A Montessori Journey

Official Notice :)

2010-11-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

This is my notice that there will be no new posts on this blog. I am keeping it open since there are people who come visit by searching specific Montessori things and such in Google, but there will be nothing new on this blog! Given the lack of substance in the posts for at least a few months now, I'm sure this won't be too great of a surprise. ;) Just thought I would make it official so those who aren't subscribed but keep visiting will know there will be nothing new to check!

I'm not keeping up with this at all, am I?

2010-11-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

Life is so very busy! And with Christmas holidays nearly here, it means the "work crunch", lol, as well as all the usual Christmasy stuff we do. I think we'll skip the Festival of Trees this year--although that's only being encouraged by the fact we're busy, not the sole reason. Every year, it's been less and less interesting, or they've had fewer and fewer activities. Kind of disappointing. I don't know, we'll see, I guess.

It's been very cold here these past few days, but finally warming up a bit. I do envy those who are in warmer places!

It is cold!

2010-10-27T05:58:00.000-06:00

The weather changes far too quickly. It's hard to adjust to the cold like this. Sounds like a good time, though, to think about including seasons, winter, something along those lines into our schooling! :) I just hope it's not too cold for Halloween.

October has been insane. Between birthdays, Thanksgiving, an early Christmas, get-togethers with friends, families, school activities, a visit to Telus World of Science to check out the Lego exhibit (very cool, I highly recommend), and the kids' extra-curricular activities, it has been crazy. Some things have had to be skipped over because they conflicted with something else. So busy that one friend said to me after we had lunch together one day and she'd heard about it all, "I'm honoured you fit me into your October!" lol.

Just a few more days of October. November will still be hectic, but not insane. I hope. ;D

One month done!

2010-10-03T06:53:00.000-06:00

I guess it was an okay start to the year. We need to work on our work habits!

Social studies is actually turning out to be okay, at least for now. The first unit is on globalization and has lead to some interesting conversations.

I haven't been doing German with my two. That's a shame. Have to work on some goals and plans for October.

September was quite busy; October is going to be even busier. Expect even fewer posts from me!

Free Admission Sunday!

2010-09-25T07:32:00.000-06:00

Just read about Free Admission Sunday going on tomorrow. The city offers free admission to city-owned attractions, such as the zoo, and some of the rec centres. Maybe we'll try to get in on that!

Could life be any busier?

2010-09-25T07:27:00.000-06:00

Not sure what to recap on. Life has just been so busy around here! Meeting up with friends, the weekly French get-together, evening activities, visit to Telus World of Science, a birthday and more. Stuff has gotten done school-wise, but it's been slow going. The weather has not been helping at all--until the past few days, dreary, cloudy, often rainy, cold. And we've all been fighting off something!

The latest

2010-09-15T07:01:00.000-06:00

Um... LOL.

Can't skip Social 10. So, Bob has to do all three social studies within the next 2 years. We will do it! Darn province!

Other than that, it feels like the school year is going by far too quickly. This month is already half done. I need to make sure we stay on top of our work, while still making time for fun stuff. :) One thing we want to do this year are visit Telus World of Science a lot. Not sure what else! Too sleepy this morning.

Busy, busy!

2010-09-10T09:23:00.000-06:00

Very busy around here with schedules all over the place between some kids in school, then not, and after school and now Bob has decided he's going for a diploma! So, on top of his Math 10 Pure (unofficial, because the province dropped it for Math 10-C, but 10P is a better choice before 20P next semester and his facilitator gave him the go-ahead), his Science 10 and half of the ELA 20-2 this semester, we need to add Phys. Ed. 10 and social of some sort. I'm hoping we can skip Social 10 completely. Maybe we'll work towards finishing ELA 20-2 this semester so we can move up to 20-1 next semester. We're meeting his facilitator within the next week so we'll be able to get everything sorted out.

Other than that, not much to report! Progressively getting into work here. And the weather is crummy. :(

Labour Day, the day we don't work ;)

2010-09-06T10:13:00.000-06:00

Funny, isn't it?

I'll just think of it as a day to prepare ourselves to get working. School starts "for real" this week! All the discussing and planning are done, well, almost, and we are ready to get going. I've already decided no outings for the month, other than the essentials (library, meetings with facilitator). Well, maybe impromptu outings if the work is kept on top of. ;)

Had fun yesterday!

2010-09-03T07:01:00.000-06:00

We met up with some friends yesterday and had some fun at a playground. It was so nice to chat and the kids had fun playing. :)

We're still not in work mode, but that's okay. Some schools don't start until Tuesday. We've still got some things to buy and some decisions to make. Hard to get started when things aren't all decided!

Donna Young

2010-08-31T06:42:00.002-06:00

If you don't already know about this site http://donnayoung.org/index.htm , do check it out! Lots and lots of free printable stuff.

The environment

2010-08-25T18:51:00.001-06:00

And no, I don't mean the one we normally talk about! I'm talking about the immediate environment of the children.

I have observed two striking things this week on how the environment affects children. The first was when my nieces and nephew arrived Monday morning to a completely different layout for the living room (our front door opens onto the living room, essentially) and different bookcases. This was a huge change for my 2.5yo niece and she came over to me and needed the security of being in my arms! She normally just gives me a smile and goes about her merry way. But this "new room" wasn't part of her sense of order, of how things *are* when she comes to my place, and it made her feel insecure. I don't recall how long she stayed in my arms, but I didn't make a big deal of it nor try to separate her from me and once her security level was back to high, she played and moved about her day like nothing had changed.

The second striking observation on how important the environment is on the children and how it affects them was today. I was finishing up getting things in order in the family room, but there was this one little table there that dh had brought down from the living room. I had no idea what his plans were for it, so I set it up next to the one rocker-recliner. I didn't think anything more of it, but knew the girls needed some activities they could do independently while I kept trying to get everything in order elsewhere, so I pulled out some different things on the shelves and put them at different spots at the kitchen table. Not only did that work beautifully, but my 5yo niece came downstairs to see what else was in the shelves. (Shows she recognized everything as having been from the shelves.) She picked something, saw the little table there, pulled up a little stool we have in the family room and proceeded to work at this little table. She naturally had to share this delightful experience with me :D--and it truly was delightful for her. This little change in the environment, providing her with a different experience, truly delighted her. Of course, it was a humbling moment as it pointed out to me that I do not regularly provide variety. :S

There is so much to be learned from children!

I was reading "Real Boys"...

2010-08-25T07:55:00.000-06:00

I had started reading the book "Real Boys" by William Pollack. Although some of the information in the early chapters gave me some "aha!" moments on my son, most of it felt like I was dragging myself through it. And I haven't made it very far in the book. I decided to pick up the reading pace a bit this morning while eating breakfast and got to a part where he takes a definite jab at Michael Gurian (another person involved in raising boys, understanding men, all that). He took some quote of Gurian's (did not even provide a source for the quote) that was completely out of context and to me, was not even saying what Pollack was trying to make it sound like Gurian was saying.

My interest in the book is now killed. However, I may just start looking into Gurian's work. :)

Off to get moving on another busy day!

Who has time for homeschooling?!?!

2010-08-24T21:25:00.000-06:00

I can't report on any homeschooling progress. Been far too busy the past couple of days to be able to even think of homeschooling. Now my focus is really just to hopefully have the house back in order before school really starts next week!! The busyness for the week isn't done...

Hehe, my typing doesn't keep up with my thoughts

2010-08-23T07:36:00.000-06:00

If you read yesterday's post, you might have noticed that I indicated the piano was $10 at the music store. I've now corrected my mistake--it's $10 CHEAPER at the music store. ;)

Since I'm in here, let's see what I've accomplished:

*I have a very basic plan for the week written out: math and/or handwriting each day *with* ds (not just have him do it, but do it with him); dd will be asked to do at least 30 minutes of some sort of school stuff (yes, it can be piano, although she's not as interested since she's waiting for the new one and we can't find the damper pedal for the current one); with my 5yo niece, if I only do one thing this week with her, it will be to practise letters in sand, especially a's and other similar letters. A's and d's I think would be particularly good, without any mention of b's. And finally into her whole name--she has a tendency to do some of the letters in capitals, with the rest in print. Yes, I'll be doing it in print, but that's because she always writes her name in print and she'll be heading off to Kindergarten next week and I think showing her how to write the letters in her name a little better is perfect preparation.

*Got the books moved over from the living room bookshelves and even took some books that had been stuffed into the den on the new shelves. There is STILL room for more! Yay! Also moved over all of the CD's that were in the aquarium stand (aquarium was on top; cd's and bookshelf stereo underneath). Dh still has to empty the aquarium, although I did manage to pull two other snails out yesterday.

*I have some thoughts down for Bob's first week, which is really only 3 days. The following week is only 4 days. Nice way to start the year, I think! What are my thoughts? Well, I think we need to start out quite structured and let the structure disappear as needed as the semester moves along. I did that when he and his sister first started and it worked very well. What I did NOT do was restart and insist on the high structure in subsequent years; I think that made things more difficult as everything slips into entropy and it all just seemed to get worse year by year.

Okay, enough thoughts for now. Time to get on with my day!

So much to do!

2010-08-22T10:37:00.001-06:00

We are just a bustle of activity right now, and in the middle of that bustle of activity, I still have to try to figure out school stuff, routines, etc.!

We decided to purchase some new bookcases and a "sofa table" for our living room, which, of course, requires emptying the old ones and whatnot. Dh has given up waiting for the fish to die of old age, so they were given away yesterday, but the tank is still not emptied--dh spent most of yesterday afternoon and into the evening putting together the new furniture. There are still about 10 snails in the tank and I hope to be able to rescue them and add them to the almost 30 rescued yesterday from the decorations, and I'm not sure how many snails the mom who took the fish took. We had a lot of snails. Just little guys, but still.

So, there's trying to get the books all moved over in a reasonable fashion, figure out what to do with the games we were keeping upstairs (the new shelves don't have any doors, so no toy bins or games can be hidden behind with them) and all that. Dh is actually out at my mom and step-dad's today helping reshingle their roof, so I've got to try to get through what I can today on my own.

Once the upstairs shelves are emptied, dh can move them elsewhere. One of them will go into the family room, where we've been complaining about not having proper room for the dvd's and blu-rays. There, problem solved. The other of the same size and style, I think dh was going to put in the den. That means cleaning up and moving around some stuff in there. I don't know what he was going to do with the shelves the aquarium is now on. It might become the new tv stand for the tv in the basement (the tv is actually on a very small, cheap night table--the whole thing wobbles if you're not careful!).

Add to all of that, part of the rearranging will involve having a new electronic full-size piano--which I don't have yet, would like to buy from a specific store, but they don't know when it'll be in. I don't want to move the old one out until the new one is in, even though the old one is all crackly and undependable for the sound. I may give in and go to Best Buy. I'd so much rather support the music store, though. Besides, it's about $10 cheaper, I think, at the music store. ;)

I have been working on plans for the school year. I need to be a little more specific with Bob's plans because the school wants deadlines and resources and such, at least for his science and ELA. We're doing math on our own (not through homeschool registration; we need to keep him as entirely teacher-directed) because the province decided to drop that math course, but he needs that math course to be able to do the best he can 2nd semester in Math 20 Pure, which the province has not yet dropped. Confusing.

For my kids, I don't have a month-by-month plan yet. So far, I've worked out some things for dd for September:

*German: This is mostly my job, making sure to add new vocabulary each day, use it with her, we'll keep track of words maybe on a large sheet of paper that's out in the open, make some labelling cards, etc. There's no specific goal here other than just get going with it and keep adding on to it!

*Math: Life of Fred. I've told her, and will remind her, that I want her to do a minimum of 5 hours a week in math. That sounds like so much. I might be willing to make it 4. Then she can easily break it down into 4 hour-long sessions and take a day off, or spend 2 days doing 2 hours. I'll talk with her about it. My main goal is to make sure she's working on it. She's only on the first book right now, which is definitely below her "grade level" (not that that matters), and I know she will enjoy the next book, so I want to ensure that she gets through it, completes it, has that satisfaction of having it done and moves along. I will ask her if she wants more tables practice. She's gotten bored of sheets, but seems to like random problem solving questions here and there or collective game style.

*French: September's goal is to get her writing a bit each day in French. It can be just a decent-sized paragraph, but she has to get writing in French. She reads a TON in English and writes a TON in English, even though French is her first language. I would not forgive myself if I let her French slide to the point that she will finish school not feeling capable of reading and writing in French!

*Science: I don't know. She was very interested at one point this past spring to study human biology. I may just have her get going on that, kind of following typical APS or high school outcomes.

*Social Studies: I'm going to encourage study of Aztec and other similar civilizations. I'm not sure how Montessori junior highs cover this kind of thing, or even if they specifically do, but rather than the elementary level's focus on needs, her fascination is on their beliefs. I think studying specifically their religion and government would fit well with her age level.

*Music: She already has this decided upon: piano. I think as part of all of her work, I will give her a tracking calendar so she can track when and how long she is spending playing piano, etc.

*Art: At least once a week. She can go with her own idea or work her way through the art course books we have. I bought the grade 7 and grade 8 texts that our school board uses (I could have rented them, but I but them both for cheaper than the price of renting a single text for the year!), plus we found a really good painting course book. Just have to get her started on it and she'll be good to go.

*Religion: She has decided that she does want to be confirmed this year. I haven't figured out a plan really for September yet. Mass, of course, and I think I might work through the grade 4 book of Faith and Life with her. It's got nice, simple foundational things in it. I need to check the contents for the grade 5-8 books and maybe see about getting some others to use during the year. Due to scheduling conflicts, she might not be able to participate in all of the sessions our parish runs for those seeking Confirmation, so I definitely need to do some things on the side. And I'm not thrilled about the fact our parish's preparation for Confirmation is pretty much a session each week for six weeks in a row--that doesn't feel like much of a preparation to me. So, we'll use the year to cover topics, questions, etc., through other resources than just the preparation sessions. Of course, encouraging daily Bible reading is always good! :)

*Health: September's focus is on healthy eating, specifically, on eating enough fruits and veggies. I've slowed down my raw food exploration, but it's gaining momentum again and I hope to be able to provide some alternative things for her rather than just basic fruits and veggies.

Whew! That's a lot. Time for me to get back to reorganizing things!

Oh, forgot--who needs button dressing frames???

2010-08-21T07:39:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I served as a large-button dressing frame for my 2.5yo niece. I was feeling a little cold and grabbed a cardigan with large buttons, but left it undone. Well, this was just way too much temptation for this little one. We were on the sofa and she did one of them up. I got up and she kind of fussed that she wasn't done. LOL. So, I stood until she had finished doing all 6 or something buttons. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to leave that particular sweater out so that she can keep doing it next week if she wants to.

This reminds me, too, that my 5yo niece has recently learned how to tie shoes. I can't remember if she'd ever done any of the practice stuff in the past, but if so, it wasn't all of the steps. I showed her a couple of times last week, her mom showed her 2 or 3 times and the 5yo said her dad showed her once, too. Well, she's got it. Sure, like all beginners, she doesn't quite get it tight enough, but she does the whole process masterfully. Just goes to show that when they are ready, away they go!

A little blogging this Saturday morning

2010-08-21T07:34:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd just babble a bit this morning. Lots of thoughts in my head!

First thought: Next week's gentle start to school time. The kids have honestly been so very good at keeping themselves reasonably busy, I don't feel guilty about not having had things prepared to do with them if they got too crazy. This past week was a sluggish week for us all in general--the weather, the forest fire smoke... I was feeling bad because here, again, I'm not anywhere close to 100%, but then I realized none of the kids really were, either. My 2.5yo niece had 3 days in a row of naps--for a girl who was having one nap every 3 days, that's a lot. My 5yo niece fell asleep on the sofa yesterday afternoon. They've all just been tired and affected by the weather and smoke. It's maybe a good thing that I wasn't prepared because then I would have felt like I had to present something!

But next week... Next week, I've already told my two that I want them to do some work. Now, at first, I was just thinking, for ds, that I'd give him a choice between handwriting or math facts. But I saw something in him last night, kind of helped by my current reading of "Real Boys", that he's been so busy with everybody else, he needs and wants to "reconnect" with me, so to speak. (He wanted to do some rowing last night at 7:45 and invited me to stretch near him. lol. I told him it wasn't a good time to be starting to exercise and we ended up playing Guess Who? instead. He beat me 4-0. Then he, dd and I watched part of X-Men in bed. He just wanted to have some time with me!) So, my thoughts are now turning towards what he needs right now, which is some time with me. I can still bring in work stuff, but I need to change the focus of it so that I make sure I'm with him, maybe doing the same type of work next to him or something we can do together.

Dd has pretty much planned to do piano all week. LOL. I'm thinking I might encourage her to get going again with Life of Fred (her math), but without "Bob" back, she might not be quite ready to move into those kinds of academics.

For the little ones... The littlest one (2.5yo) has found herself by herself a fair amount this week due to the bigger kids playing games in a dark basement--not quite the 2.5yo's thing. She is sooooo used to pretty much having her sister's constant companionship (is that a word?), that she was kind of out of sorts and didn't know what to do with herself (the 5yo is usually the one who decides or initiates things and the 2.5yo just follows). She wanted *me*, therefore, to do all kinds of things with her. Sometimes I would say yes, other times I would say, "Give me a few minutes," because I was busy with something else, and she would usually find something else to do. That said, I think it's time (haven't I written this before?) that I really consider starting her on the Montessori sequence of activities. She has been kept so busy with her sister and has tried to do everything her big sister's been doing, that there wasn't really the room to give her her own presentations. Big sister is going to be starting full-time school in a week and a half (well, kind of--kindergarten, so it'll be a half day or full day here and there, with school time increasing as the month of September progresses). And although I will have the others and need to keep them on track, especially Bob with his high school courses--not so much leeway there--this is a child who is going to want to be doing. Her big sister wasn't really like that, I don't think. She's always been the type to hold back, to watch, to just do something comfortable, although that has been changing the past year (she even allowed a crab on her hand the other day! this is the child who would not feed herself at age 1 because she didn't want to touch the food!). The littlest one, ever since becoming mobile, has been the one to do, do, do. She does love "reading books" and the like, but I also know she'll love doing practical life and sensorial and all of that. With a little 1yo boy being added to our mix in October sometime, it will also give her another focus. :)

Isn't that interesting. All the thoughts about school and planning and all that just seemed to stop. Must be time to go exercise. ;)

Insets--5yo style and 2yo style ;)

2010-08-18T09:25:00.000-06:00

My 5yo niece decided to get creative with the insets. This is what she did the other day:

Her 2.5yo sister decided to do her own version of the creative version:

I wonder what Maria would have done...

2010-08-16T11:03:00.000-06:00

...if she had but a few children in the classroom and they all showed up tired, crabby and easily weepy?

Not ready for the week! :(

2010-08-15T20:09:00.000-06:00

I had hoped to be a little more prepared for the week starting tomorrow, but I've been battling sinus problems this whole past week, and it's been even worse today. Not sure what was going on yesterday (geesh--that's how badly this is affecting me!), but I didn't sit down to plan anything. I ran errands, I know that. Laundry's not done. Bathrooms haven't been done. Vacuuming's not done. Ran some more errands today--got a little bookcase for ds's room (nice improvement over having books lined along the floor)--found myself some shoes, have had two naps today. I'm not kidding. It's 8pm and I'm ready to nap again. Maybe I should.

Talked to the kids about starting school stuff. Dd's ready to get going with piano, but not really ready to commit to anything else, which I can understand as she's just come back from camp. Ds isn't interested in starting at all. lol. My gut is constantly telling me to prepare some science stuff, yet I don't follow through. Why not? I don't know. I should, as per the Nike motto, just do it.

Okay, I'll just do something: clean the kitchen, tidy up a bit, then sit down with the science books I pulled out and pick something. Or maybe nap first. ;)

Dd's back from camp

2010-08-13T20:14:00.000-06:00

Not sure what to share about the past couple of days. School-wise, I have noticed that I really need to show my 5yo niece how to write a printed 'a' correctly. It almost looks like she's drawing it sigma-style. Other than providing colouring pages, I'm not sure I've done much directed stuff. I read a lot to the 2yo niece, pulled out some puzzles, ran some errands. Nothing very exciting nor Montessori. I've just really not been up to thinking and directing more than that!

I did clean up dd's room and purchased a new bedspread she'd seen in a Bed, Bath and Beyond flyer. It was all ready and set up for when she came home from camp today. Which was an experience, apparently. Dh went by himself to go get her, she got into the car and said she wasn't feeling great, then said she felt like she was going to throw up and within 15 minutes of leaving camp, blaugh. On herself, on the car door, seat, mat, speaker... Dh cleaned up a little bit what he could, but he didn't have a lot of options on the side of the road. They had a 1.5-hour drive home to go, too. :( She seems fine now, but others at the camp apparently had this stomach bug, too, and others had it worse, so we'll just knock on wood. In any case, she was happy to come home to see her room cleaned up for her (she had complained before leaving that she wanted it clean but just felt like she never got anywhere with it) and the new bedspread in place. With her cat already sleeping on it. ;)

Dd's doing math calculations (with the calculator), calculating how many days we've been alive. I'm glad we count our age in years and not days. ;)

Let's see, what else? I've finally gotten to work on some year plans for dd and ds. Very brief year plans, but it's nice to get them down. I'm never very good at following the plans, but dd and I seem very motivated and focused. A good portion of it is stuff she wants to do: German, music, art and math. She is very eager for us to replace my old keyboard (did I already blog about that?), but we still need to wait because I want to try out the one I think we'll get.

I feel like I'm not making any sense. It's only 8pm but I'm thinking I ought to brush my teeth and put on pj's, curl up with a book and let myself fall asleep.

Back to what I was saying (this is the most disorganized blog post ever, isn't it?), it's nice to have at least something written down for both dd and ds. Kind of started the plan for "Bob", too, but he's only covering 3 subjects for first semester, so it's not too bad. Although I do have to figure out his English and which resources we will use.

The plans are very brief, as in, for example, dd's:

German:
*finish workbook
*check APS outcomes for grades 7 and 8
*use lots orally on a daily basis

Math:
*finish the first two Life of Fred books
*work on mastering tables

Etc.

There's a lot in dd's plans, but I think that's good. We spent so much of last year with her kind of flitting around, her wanting me to give her something to do, me not knowing what to give her. If I can have this basic plan in place, something we can refer to, then it'll be easy to go, "Well, you haven't worked on this and this, so get to it." ;D One thing I would like to figure out is how to meet the Montessori idea of having her involved in the community somehow, involved in how the world around her works. She would LOVE to have a part-time job, but she's 12 and looks 10. It's just not going to happen this year. If she gets more involved in producing art this year, that's always something she could work at--creating her own enterprise. She's a natural artist and loves it, but isn't always consistent. We have some fantastic resources for her this year and a little nudge will help her get going. I'm also hoping our school board will run a session again with the same painting instructor from this past year.

There are some little holes in her plan, like what to specifically study for social studies and science. I've got question marks beside the ideas. She learned a bit about the Aztecs while at camp, so that could be an interesting culture and history to delve into, or others in the same area and same time. Or I could take a CM approach, Ambleside's history recommendations or something else. I guess part of me is trying to find "the right" thing for her to study this coming year when it probably doesn't matter much. She loves *real* history, so right there, I can at least know in which direction to head for her, whereas for ds, right now it's all about maps and where places are in the world, etc. So, for his plan, I've got the focus on world geography for social studies. (Again, such disjointed sentences/paragraphs. I'm frankly too tired to care at the moment.) Ancient North and South American civilizations could actually be a fascinating topic for her, finding biographies, journals, etc. for her to go through.

All right, enough for tonight! My brain's turning to mush!

So tired today

2010-08-11T06:58:00.000-06:00

Feeling very tired today. And horribly congested. I'd love to be able to call in a substitute. ;)

This is the kind of day where one (okay, *I*) would really like to wing it, but I know the best thing I could do is to have some sort of plan. I'll start at least with a list of some easy-to-do activities:

*colouring pages
*paint
*story time
*movie
*tracing pages

I can't think of anything else at the moment. My mind is distracted by a Charlotte Mason site that a message I got linked to. I'm not finding this particular site very helpful, to be honest. Or rather, I'm having a problem with the inconsistency between what Charlotte Mason wrote and what this site suggests. The two don't fit and that always throws me for a loop. My brain just doesn't deal with it well at first.

At the same time, I'm all for people modifying things to suit their needs. I guess, in this case, my mental issue is that it's supposed to be teaching about CM and is not clarifying that there is an alteration of what is actually recommended by Charlotte Mason; at the same time, people are probably reading the books, so they'll know what Charlotte wrote anyhow.Just my quirky brain. And a tired one at that. I think I might actually be able to fall back asleep now, which I will go try and do.

Love

2010-08-11T06:30:00.002-06:00

“She [Maria Montessori] taught me that one's love for others is more important than all the education in the world,” he says.

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/society/article560903.ece

Yesterday and today

2010-08-10T15:02:00.000-06:00

So, yesterday was overplanned, as I expected, but I think that's a good thing, because when I did want to direct the girls, I had my plan there ready and just needed to pick something. Things didn't quite get rolling as I had hoped in the morning because I simply was not ready for the day when they showed up--I had not yet eaten breakfast! They were going to pick some dress up stuff, I said sure, but my 5yo niece changed her mind (which means her 2yo sister followed suit) and I suggested they find something in the shelves so I could go eat breakfast. The 5yo picked Playdough, including the doggie doctor toy that can be used with Playdough. It was an interesting choice, because right away, she started getting into medical care of the dog--her own dog had had some health issues the past week.

They did that for quite sometime, which allowed me to do some stuff around the house. When I saw that they had moved on from it, I asked if they wanted to listen to a story. As I shared earlier, I tried Beatrix Potter and that was a flop. The elephants book was great. After we were done that, the 5yo asked if there was something new for school that I could show her! :D I decided to show her the "prequel" to the teens boards since she is still having issues counting to 20 and reading numbers to 20. (Essentially, this is an activity with ten bars and the coloured bead stair. It went quite well.) After that, she wanted to play Chocolate Chip Math, which also got her brother and my ds involved. It was interesting to note that my bright 10yo nephew, going into grade 5 (just like ds) struggled with fairly simple subtraction (9-3). On the one hand, it made me feel better about not having drilled ds with subtraction, because he can't do 9-3 quickly either; on the other hand, it left me wondering about what they are now teaching in school because this is a boy who does fairly well in math, it seems to me--yet he declared yesterday, "I'm not very good in math." When kids say that, I think what they really mean is, "I'm not as capable as I'd like to be." Kids *want* to know the tables by heart, even if they don't necessarily want to do the practice involved. They *want* to be able to quickly and mentally solve things. Something goes wrong somewhere in that they get the message somehow that they simply ought to "know" it, rather than realizing they need the practice.

Now, my nephew is going off to school and I will only have him a couple of days per week after school during the school year, during which time he will most likely play away with ds. So there's not much I can do with him about his math, unless for some reason his parents do decide to pull him and have him homeschool (which he would LOVE; he has practically begged to be homeschooled this year). It does have me thinking about my own kids, though, and how I can incorporate these kinds of math things that mean a lot to them, but which they want to avoid because facing them means feeling bad. "Fun" is the first word that comes to mind--no better way to work past fear than tying in something fun with it. Games and such, like the Chocolate Chip Math game which the boys both wanted to play yesterday. If we play enough such games, will that be enough? Just some thoughts. I have had the thought with my son that I need to do more oral math with him, rather than written work all the time. I still have Ray's Arithmetic, which I think is a fantastic program, and maybe doing that orally, kind of game-style, while incorporating a Montessori approach to the other stuff, would work well for this coming year. But, I digress.

Back to yesterday. After Chocolate Chip Math, I think I went to take care of some laundry, during which time the girls took up a little piano book and singing the songs in it. Fine activity. I let them be. When they stopped, we set up things to have lunch. After lunch, we had a short quiet time, then ran errands and played at a playground. All-in-all, a very reasonable first day back!

Today: It was humid, everybody was tired, so even though I had a plan, I ended up just reading with the girls for longer than planned (Winnie-the-Pooh beats out Beatrix Potter, but non-fiction is still preferred by the 5yo!), then I did my own thing and let them be. When I saw things were getting kind of silly, I set up some collage-making at the kitchen table. There was a 2nd issue with the 2yo downstairs, so I guided her upstairs and to the table and told her she could glue all kinds of things. Oooh, glue. Always appealing. ;) She did that for a while, then her sister made her way up, saw the collage stuff and put her planned activity aside. Not sure what we did after that, but the 5yo eventually did make her way to the insets, but used them to create characters rather than the traditional Montessori way!

By the time that was all done, it was early lunch, then off to run some errands and head to the playground again, where we stayed for nearly 2 hours.

Issues with a tired 2yo at the moment. Must go.

Beatrix Potter vs a book on elephants

2010-08-10T07:10:00.000-06:00

Beatrix Potter lost!

I don't know if it was because it was a translation and the translation was not very engaging (I don't know that I've ever read the English), but my 5yo niece quickly grew bored, asked if we had to finish and then passed me a book on elephants, which we read instead. The 2yo didn't seem to care either way--she just wanted to look at the pictures in the book. :)

Need to rethink my plans

2010-08-08T08:41:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was all about getting the juices flowing so I can have at least some reasonable plan for this coming week. I realized a couple of things since:

1) I want time during the day (not in the evening) to work on longer-term school planning. Not only have I not worked out a plan for my kids for the year, but all progress in terms of planning for "Bob" came to a halt. I *need* to have plans in place for him because we have to submit them in September. And we have to have an idea of what to do, too. ;) I also have a French course to plan out! I'm going to be teaching a once-a-week French session.

2) I want to be able to run errands and such. Not that I couldn't with the routines/schedule I proposed for myself yesterday, just skip the afternoon routines when we're out. I guess it's more a mental note for me that the schedule is for when we're home and I shouldn't feel tied to it. At the same time, this has me thinking more long-term and perhaps a week schedule, with specific days for specific types of outings. Although, I'm thinking "Nah" as I write that. :D

So, some rethinking about tomorrow:

*I will not be ready to do the first Great Lesson. I don't think. If I do it, I'm going to make it much shorter. I printed it off yesterday and it's ridiculously long. Instead, I will have a science activity of some sort ready to do with the boys each day. I will hold off on handwriting and such and let ds know that the following week, I will be expecting him to work on some stuff.

*The morning plan I had set up yesterday ought to be fine. I think I want to be more relaxed for the afternoon. Now, it also turns out that the littlest one is in the transitional phase for her naps--naps some days and not others.

*Afternoons: I don't know that I want a schedule at all. I'd like the philosophy to be kind of:

--silent reading right after lunch
--as much outside time as possible
--when inside, art, music, games, more read-alouds, etc. I think it'll just be more of a "be prepared to direct them" kind of thing. That way, I can leave them be for the most part while taking care of things around the house, working on planning and preparing, etc.

Well, now, that was an easy enough change to make. :)

I think I just need to be realistic this week: I have had a crazy July, between travelling and getting ready to travel and a one-week stint with my nieces and nephew and then several days taken up recently due to my mother breaking her wrist and needing to be driven places and such, that after all of this, I am not prepared for a full onslaught of "school" as I had hoped, and (yes, saying this to myself and everybody else ;) ), that's okay. Getting a strong morning routine going, having things ready to do with the boys, these will be great things to do this week while I figure out what to do next week. ;D

So, since everybody's still sleeping here and I don't feel like reading, let me actually kind of plan out tomorrow:

I will probably be awake by 5:30 as that has been my pattern lately. I can do my own morning routine (exercise, emails, all that), but I'll have to make sure I have things ready tonight so that I can get myself ready first thing in the main bathroom--no guarantee that dh will be up before my nieces and nephew arrive tomorrow morning. Ds has been sleeping late ever since we got back from Kelowna, which I think I will just let him do for now. Having him get enough sleep is always difficult.

So, get that all out of the way, have breakfast and everything before the kids show up. Then, maybe more of a checklist/routine rather than a set schedule:

*kids arrive, shoes away properly

*sit with the girls, chat, read them a story--I have to pick which one. I have some little Beatrix Potter books out, so reading one of those could be just perfect. Then I could read them a story from our children's Bible stories book.

*"lessons": I think I ought to start with a practical life activity, then a sensorial activity, and so on. Each girl can have her own turn after shown something, or I can (maybe not tomorrow, but another day), show something much harder to the 5yo, let her do that, then get the 2yo busy with things elsewhere; regardless, I am going to aim for at least 1 hour of lessons. If they want to go longer than 1 hour, great. I suspect the boys, at least this week, will already be engrossed in whatever they have decided to do, but in case they aren't, I do want a science activity of some sort, or maybe building or something, to be ready for them, visible on the table. But I've gotten away on myself. I'm supposed to be specifically planning for tomorrow. I'll have to have a look in Gettman or at Montessori World or something to specifically decide which lessons I want to present tomorrow and pull out our science experiment books. Maybe for tomorrow, since I have limited time today, I will just put the books on display on the table.

*Grace and Courtesy: Maria Montessori had 30 minutes for this. I don't know if I can make it happen for 30 minutes! I think doing some "walking on the line" would be a good choice for tomorrow. It would be nice if I could actually find a line other than the lines our laminate create in the flooring. ;) If it's nice, we could always take the activity outside. A second Grace and Courtesy lesson could be good, too. I'll have to look through a list and see. I know the 5yo is not always very good about saying please and thank you, so that could be a fun little role playing game to play.

If this doesn't take us to lunch, then I will just do more reading aloud, probably from the book on animals we had been reading from when they were here in July.

Lunch: Have at least 2 kids work on preparing the dining room table to eat lunch. Grace. Lunch preparation as required (I'll probably have started before; my nieces and nephew all come with their own lunches, but sometimes things need to be reheated or cooked). I could always do a collective read-aloud at this point since it's probably the only time during the day I'd be guaranteed to have the boys available for a read-aloud. lol. That means picking something to read for just then... Hm, not sure I'm prepared to do that just yet.

For tomorrow afternoon... It's supposed to be rather nice tomorrow. After our silent reading time, I think maybe we'll head to a playground where I can work on some planning and the kids can play. Or maybe we'll go for a walk in one of the nearby ravines and do a bug hunt. :D I'll choose between one of the two tomorrow. Then we can come back, have art or music time, then they will be free to go back outside, play board games, etc.

I'll need to specifically write out what I'm going to do or have available for each step of the day (like, for art or music, what?) so that I'm not trying to figure out things on the spot.

Oh! Signs of life upstairs! I ought to be able to go get myself ready for the day!

Solar System Activity

2010-08-07T07:51:00.000-06:00

I remember having done something similar to the rope of the solar system described here: http://www.missbarbara.net/thebeginning.html#keylessons . I used cups or something to mark the places on the road (yes, we went outside to do it). This could be a fantastic activity to do with the kids as a follow-up lesson to the first Great Lesson.

Got to get planning!

2010-08-07T07:37:00.000-06:00

I had a vision at the beginning of the summer of how much I was going to get done, the sort of routines I was going to have, and how prepared I was going to be for when my nieces and nephew came for most of August.

Ha.

This summer has had so much busyness, part of me feels like I haven't really gotten done any of the things I wanted to get done. And while I've had some moments here and there to kind of think about things, I am certainly not prepared for this coming Monday, which is when my nephew and nieces will be with us.

What is my vision for August? A baby step at a time, I want to incorporate Montessori lessons into our day. I want to have a more structured day for all of the kids. I want my son to work on his handwriting and math. I want my nephew to get a feel for what it would be like to actually homeschool with us (he's been kind of pestering his parents, but whenever he's with us, ds pretty much gets the day off or he does his work really early, so my nephew has never really seen a homeschool day in action; well, except when he was 4--he's now 10). Basically, I want structure, I want the little ones in particular to be directed, I want activities prepared and in the boys' face that will get them involved in something other than scootering, biking or playing in the yard.

That's all fine and dandy. But how will I make this work? What will I specifically show them? I have a tendency to want everything all planned out ahead of time, every last detail, and I know that's self-defeating. Let me just ramble with some thoughts:

*I would like to present the Great Lessons to them. I haven't presented the Great Lessons in years. I had hoped to present the first one this coming Monday, but I don't know if I'll be ready because we are so very busy this weekend.

*I would like to have science activities ready for them. But what? I need to figure this out. I have a bunch of different books with science activities. As much as I would like it to be all Montessori in nature and everything connected, I think I have to suck it up and just show them things.

*I remember having done with dd and another girl I had been homeschooling some homemade baked playdough models of the core, the mantel and the crust. We also did something on dinosaurs, but I can't remember what--it was 7 years ago. I really ought to have a look in the Montessori science albums I have! See how blogging can bring things back to mind? :)

*I want to have a sort of schedule, at least for the little ones. They are the ones who need the most direction right now. A modification of Maria Montessori's original schedule. Something along the lines of:

(Before school begins: I need to make a specific plan for the day, have activities prepared, lessons practised, etc.)

8:30 - 9:15? Arrive. Put away shoes properly (instead of literally throwing them into the closet). "Circle time"--we won't really have a circle since there are only 3 of us at that point. ;) We'll chat a bit, talk about the day before, etc., and have a story time. Maria Montessori "eschewed" (where did THAT word come from in my brain?) obviously fictional stories (fairy tales, talking animals, etc.) because she found the children weren't very interested in them the way they were interested in them compared to stories about real things. However, I have found my nieces love everything, so I will probably mix it up between real stories and fictional things like "The Wind in the Willows". In Maria Montessori's original schedule, she had "religious exercises" listed as part of the first routine of the morning. I have no idea what that means. I could maybe read them a little Bible story or teach them a prayer, I suppose!

9:15 - 10:15 "Intellectual exercises" Maria Montessori writes. "Objective lessons interrupted by short rest periods. Nomenclature, sense exercises." Essentially, LESSONS from any of the Montessori subject areas, except probably not room care nor grace and courtesy. Because the latter comes next.

10:15 - 10:45 Grace and courtesy lessons and practice. This is almost like a game time for the kids. Walking gracefully, moving chairs without making a noise, practising greeting people, thanking people, etc.

Maria Montessori's schedule would be moving into lunch prep right now. The kids get to my place 30 minutes before MM's schedule starts, plus I've shortened the first routine because there isn't really any room care to do, although perhaps I could add it in. Actually, 10:45 would be a perfect time for us to do a pre-lunch clean up (not just the little ones, but EVERYONE). We have a tendency of having lunch around 11/11:30. So, 10:45 could be the check the rooms, see that everything is in place, maybe dust, prepare the table for lunch, prepare any lunches as needed, then we could all sit down together, say grace and eat lunch. Then do the after-lunch clean up. We could be done lunch by 12.

The afternoons:

12 - 1 Maria Montessori has free games at this point. I think this might have been a time where really little ones may have gone off to sleep, too. In any case, part of me resists this idea as I've tried it and it doesn't seem to work for us. So, instead of free games, it'll start with quiet time: free reading or writing. Assuming my 2yo niece still needs naps, I will put her down for a nap at this point. (Ach--I just had the reminder that I was hoping to work on potty training with her. I have to try not to do too much at a time, though. Maybe have a week with the schedule then add in the potty training.) So, around 12:30 or so, I think I will move on to the activities Montessori had planned for later in the day.

12:30 - 1:30 Manual work, clay, art... I actually have a fantastic book of guiding children through art projects. I could pick a particular medium each week, or maybe have different things each day--one day is painting, another is drawing, another is collage, another is sculpting... I find it so hard to make these kinds of decisions, even though it probably doesn't make much of a difference. I'm thinking at the moment that to have a varied week is probably better, because it shows them more things. Of course, with the little one down for her nap, she will miss this part, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Now the Montessori schedule really breaks down for me. I would love to go outside and have directed outside time. BUT with a little one sleeping inside... I'll need another hour of indoor activities, or give them free time at this point, then when the little one is up, we can go for a nature walk, play games outside, etc. At the moment, I'm thinking from 1:30-2:30 could be me reading aloud for 30 minutes, then free time for the older niece. Although maybe the read-aloud would be better for 12:30-1? Although, that would be right after their own reading time. Does it matter? (Dang, far too much perfectionism in me trying to find the "right" time to do a read aloud!) I'll leave it for 1:30. And free time can be until the littlest one wakes up. That will give me a chance to do some planning, prepping and my own free reading. :D

So, roughly 2:30, weather permitting, outside we will go. Start with a walk or maybe head to a playground or a path or area where we can do some nature observations. We could make it CM style and bring books and pencils to do some sketching. (I'm still very confused about CM's "brush drawings" while out in a natural area--did they really bring paints with them? Were they already mixed and wet? I don't understand!) This could take up to an hour. Of course, some days we could just go into the backyard or into a field and play around with a ball, badminton, stuff like that.

Back home, maybe around 3:30?, good time for music :) Spend maybe 15-30 minutes playing an instrument or showing them how to play something or just letting them explore. Then they can have time to play board games, card games, Lego, go back to artsy activities, etc. while I start supper preparations.

It's a very structured schedule compared to what we have been doing. Of course, I'm going to have to prepare for some "interruptions", such as showing things to the boys, taking the littlest one to the toilet or changing her diaper, etc. But I like the general feel.

Now, this is all fine and good, but that doesn't make me any more ready for the Great Lessons or whatever else I'm going to do with the boys next week. Dd will be away at camp, so I have all next week to figure out things for her. So, off I will head to http://www.moteaco.com now to read up on the first Great Lesson!

Notebooking

2010-08-06T07:30:00.002-06:00

Did I ever share this link? http://www.squidoo.com/notebooking It looks like a great thing to try as a learning tool.

I'm back!

2010-08-04T09:24:00.000-06:00

Sorry to not have been blogging. Last week, my mother broke her wrist and it required me to help her out a bit, plus I had all kinds of things to do for the bank and to prepare for a little vacation out to Kelowna to visit a dear friend and her family. We only got back just last night. I can't really blog much at the moment as there is so much to do! I will say that dd (12) has taken up the Rubik's Cube. Can anybody say sensorial training? :D

A Catholic Charlotte Mason site

2010-07-26T19:40:00.000-06:00

Being Catholic, stumbling across this Charlotte Mason site http://materamabilis.org/ma/ was a happy occasion! :) I particularly liked the part in the introduction where they make the distinction between a CM-structured education and a CM-influenced education. Yes, the latter is what I want for my children: influenced. I think there are some fantastic ideas in CM that tie in well with Montessori, while being a little more feasible in application than having a setup at home that resembles a Montessori elementary or Erdkinder classroom.

Labels

2010-07-24T15:51:00.002-06:00

I have started labelling the posts I've made. It's slow going, largely because I don't usually want to do the labelling ;), but you will see, a little further down on the right-hand side, the list of labels! Feel free to click around. :D

Babble, babble

2010-07-24T11:36:00.000-06:00

Waiting around for some work guys to show up and thought I'd blog rather than clean the den. ;)

So, I may have a plan in the works with a friend for dd's social studies next year. What I've thrown out to her as an idea is that we have the girls (she has a daughter who is just a year younger than mine) work one day a month on a social studies project together. It could be their only formal social studies work, which would be fine. My idea is that they work on a country in-depth, but it doesn't have to be that. However, in-depth country studies give such opportunities for research, creativity and learning! They can look at the history, the needs of people, the government styles, changes in maps, collect items to have a Country Box of some sort or a display board/scrapbook/anything. I hope she likes the idea as much as I do! :) Having somebody to work with would definitely be way more motivating for the two of them rather than just doing something on their own.

--

I finished the first volume of the Charlotte Mason series. It's definitely planted some seeds in me. I am so very well attached to and convinced by the Montessori way of thinking that I don't think I could ever implement the scheduled, forced-lesson structure with my kids--although, I think it could be helpful with Bob--but the idea of including more of CM as part of our work really, really appeals to me! At the same time, I have to admit that I'm tempted to have even just an hour of CM-structured work per day with my 9yo son. Things to think about as the summer moves along. September will be here in no time!

Kids love learning!

2010-07-22T19:44:00.000-06:00

Kids truly do love learning. Any who appear not to have either had that desire squashed or those around them are not recognizing the learning they are loving to do!

The "trick" with so many, of course, is to provide them with things, but then give them the freedom to decide how in-depth they will go with it at any given time. Sometimes it's a matter of hitting on the right thing at the right time, but even then, if you start imposing yourself... The innate desire can fade quickly.

Take, for example, geography. Now, most non-Montessorians would say that 5yo's are not interested in geography. I would have to beg to differ. There is a huge fascination with the globe and maps. What they don't like is being required to remember certain things. My 5yo niece, while we were reading about some mammals this week, wanted to know where the monkey in question came from. I grabbed out the globe and provided a very brief lesson on where the water was and where the different continents were. I did cover the question of: Is Africa really green? (To my readers who are not familiar with a Montessori continent globe, Africa is usually green.) I decided to bring it up due to just this 5yo's nature--I could see her getting into an argument with someone older because they would insist it's not green and she would because she saw it on the globe. ;) So, I brought it up as kind of a joke, she said, "Noooo," although, she was checking with me to see if she was right. ;) Then I was able to show her where in Africa the monkey came from. Then she wanted to know what the other continents were called and so on. We spent a few minutes with this.

A day later, I decided to bring out my hand-made Continent Puzzle Map. (And man, did I wish I had dished out the $ for the wooden maps years ago! :( ) Immediately, she recognized the colour and shape of Africa. "It's Africa!" There was such delight in seeing "a familiar friend" in another material. From there, we went to match up the other puzzle map pieces with their corresponding place on the globe. She was thrilled, especially every time she saw or handled Africa. :D

A little something she learned this week that she loved learning and that will continue to delight her in the future.

Fitting more Montessori in!

2010-07-21T19:47:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to blog each day to not forget anything, but I've already forgotten to blog each day. ;)

Yesterday: Hm, counted through the 100-chain with my 5yo niece; realized I ought to have worked more with the Teens and Tens Boards first with her. Note made to show those to her after our little vacation break. Read to her and her sister from an animal encyclopedia. Shoot, I know I did some other stuff with them yesterday.

Today: I was tired. Didn't feel like really committing to anything. As it turned out, everything kind of fell into place for the kids to play in the basement happily, so all was well. Took dd to a half-day day camp she's participating in this week, then headed to a playground afterward, as has been our routine all week. Found a fantastic playground by accident on my way to a different playground--such a great invention! Ample opportunity to run, to challenge those large muscles. Just fascinating to watch today.

Speaking of fascinating to watch... Observation. A key Montessori tool for whichever age group(s) you are working with. Today, I found myself intently observing my 2yo niece. She wanted water while we were at the park, I pulled out her little Rubbermaid bottle with a built-in straw, and she tried to get what little water was there, but it wouldn't come. I opened the top up for her so she could drink right from the opening. After she had a drink, she got this happy little, yet somehow sly, smile on her face and gently took the top from me. She put it on, twisted it a bit (that was fascinating to watch--she was so focused!), looked at me and said she wanted another drink, then took off the top and had another drink. I found myself in such awe over this tiny little creature! It reminded me of times where I have really made a point to observe, to find that awe in the kids--it is such a way to connect with them. Maybe not have them connect with you, but my experience is that really observing your kids and letting yourself be fascinated by them can be very powerful at helping you connect with them. I highly recommend it. :)

The beauty of the built-in control of error

2010-07-19T10:49:00.001-06:00

I just witnessed the wonderful beauty of the built-in control of error!

I decided to present the Number Cards and Counters to my 5yo niece today. Presentation went very well, she decided to try it on her own, I distanced myself with other things so she wouldn't keep checking me to see if she was doing it correctly. She got to the last number and had an extra counter in her hand. She knew there were enough counters for it to finish without any extra and you could see she was puzzled, looking over the other numbers and counters. She finally saw that she had only counted seven for the eight, placed the "extra" counter where it needed to go and was very pleased with herself. :)

Misc.

2010-07-16T07:42:00.003-06:00

So, we've just been taking it easy and recovering from all of the busyness the past while. It's been good to just relax! Well, okay, not ONLY relax, but do lots of it.

We went to the Street Performers Festival on Wednesday with a friend and her kids. Saw a very kiddie pirate show, ate, the kids all spent some time in the City Hall fountain (it's okay, they're allowed ;); it's like a mini-pool with water spraying all over), saw part of a comedy/balloon show (very, very funny) and a hip hop group called Rhythm Speaks. Oh, and a not-quite-family-oriented hula-hooping act. :0 She was funny and amazing with her hula hoops, but some of her comments... Eek. One of the roaming individual acts got in on the Rhythm Speaks show before they began--someone dressed up as an old granny, who did some hiphopping herself! lol. I took more videos than pictures and can't figure out how to take stills from the videos to post here, so can't show you much. In any case, see how this little boy is dressed in balloons?

Well, the guy running the act managed to pick a tall guy as his next volunteer and put that orange-white-black balloon combination on the tall guy, but of course, it could only fit like a diaper. lol.

It was cloudy and the predictions were that it was going to be cloudy all afternoon and we'd have a late-afternoon thunderstorm. Well, we ended up in the sun, no sunscreen, and we all got burnt. :( Lesson learned: Always bring sunscreen! I normally do, but was trying to pack light.

What else have we done? Dd is back to working on whatever it is she's writing. She doesn't usually let me see what she's working on, although I catch glimpses here and there. Always stories inspired by whatever she's reading, sometimes her own versions of the stories or continuations. It's kind of funny that so many programs will require that students do this kind of work (retellings, their own version, continuations), yet I suspect plenty of kids are like my dd and would simply start doing it on their own! Of course, she's reading like crazy, too. She filled out a form at the library a week ago, asking for some book suggestions. The form is really good--goes through what they do and don't like, favourite books, most hated book ever read, etc. She got a list in the mail the other day, sent from the library. I think the suggestions she got from the librarian were really good. Of course, she'd already read one or two of them. ;)

Ds has started reading the How to Train Your Dragon series. He's now on the 2nd book. It's nice to see him branch off into something other than Geronimo Stilton, Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes. ;) I shake my head at myself when I see him sitting around reading, because I had worried for so long about if I was doing the right thing in letting reading go with him. I can't say it's harmed him in any way! In addition to the How to Train Your Dragon books, he's pulled out a book on animal facts and has been going through it, which has led him to using Google Earth to find out where some of these places are.

There is soooo much learning and growing going on! It's great! :)

Next week, I'll have my two nieces and nephew, just for the week. It'll change the calm around here ;) and, unfortunately, it'll change ds's reading habits. Although, I may just insist that after lunch is quiet time with a book, while I get my younger niece down for her nap. My nephew (10yo) has started having a bit of interest in reading, so it may work out really well. I do need to really plan the week, though. Although I know the boys will likely spend a good deal of time outside on bikes and scooters, if it's too hot or if it's rainy (which the weather forecast is predicting), they'll be inside, probably going, "What can we do?" lol. I talked to ds last night, and he said he'd like to do some fun science stuff. "Like what?" "I don't know. Something I'd like." lol. Chemistry or building things are always good. I actually had the thought of maybe presenting the first Great Lesson. Ds probably hasn't seen it since he was 5 and may not even remember it! I also have some science albums from Montessori R&D, which I could have a look at and see if there's anything I could get started this coming week.

I have sat down and started working out some routines I could use with the girls. (Well, the two little girls. :) ) Basically, it's just a reworking of Maria Montessori's original schedule, starting with a bit of taking care of the environment, having story/discussion time, I'll include that some word or sound games (like I Spy), then move onto some lessons (will have to plan those and practise the presentations), etc. I haven't worked it all out yet, but given it's Friday, I should maybe get on that so I can practise at least Monday's presentations before Monday hits!

On to another previously posted-about topic: Charlotte Mason. I'm going much more slowly through the first book than I thought I would. I had to stop taking notes because there's just so much! So far, I have to say that a lot of her thinking matches up so much with Montessori: hands-on math as much as possible, connect with real things, little ones under 6 should be taught how to clean and dress themselves and so on... Even all the focus on habits isn't really any different from Montessori when you think about how the children are shown how to do so many different things in very specific ways--when they do them over and over, that is really just the development of a habit. The courtesy lessons are all about developing certain habits... A light bulb moment went off in my head while I was reading what Charlotte Mason had to say on the subject. (I'm still in the habits section in the first book.)

The further I get into the book, the further I understand Charlotte's true love and respect and admiration for children! I had never read enough previously to get that; CM had always felt like kind of a stiff approach, for some reason. Getting a feel for who she was has changed how I see her approach.

I have to say that the real difference, for what I've read so far, is that Charlotte Mason would have the teacher decide what the child is to learn and when, whereas Maria Montessori would have the teacher show the children all the things they can learn, and let the child follow his inner guidance to choose what he will learn at any given time. Of course, this encompasses other differences, like CM training a child not to dawdle over things that don't interest them, but still having to do those things, and Montessori saying that if a child isn't interested in something, let him find something else to develop focus and attention.

My heart and mind still believe very much in Montessori! I like the "what"of CM and think I will be able to incorporate a lot of the "what" into our schooling--science ideas, history ideas, certain books that I can read aloud to them, etc. Because so much of Montessori for older kids depends on having lots of kids around for the "what", it's one area where CM can be very helpful. CM also reminds me that direction is not a bad thing--and Montessori would say that the child who needs more direction ought to have it. Getting the CM structure in mind I think will be very helpful for working with Bob this coming year. In some ways, CM ought to have been a more natural approach anyhow for Bob for high school: the work he is doing this coming year is prescribed by the government. He must cover certain work in order to get the credits. He can't do the Montessori thing and take his time to go in-depth on a subject that interests him--he has to cover the work.

Of course, if I want to have the CM series completely read by the end of August, I'm going to have to get really going with the reading!!!

Fantastic Quote

2010-07-12T20:39:00.000-06:00

"Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you." - H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of "A Father's Book of Wisdom" and "Life's Little Instruction Book"

Self-evaluation time: How many of you parents can say you lived fully fair and with complete integrity today? :)

Pictures!

2010-07-12T09:09:00.002-06:00

Pictures are now posted in the previous message. For some reason, Blogger is using Edit HTML as the default rather than Compose, which is why I didn't have all of my buttons. So, those of you blogging with Blogger and suddenly find you are missing buttons, click on the Compose tab. :)

Education Everywhere!

2010-07-11T20:40:00.002-06:00

The past few days, my kids, hubby and I accompanied my mom and step-dad to a place called Slave Lake. While my mom and step-dad stayed in a hotel, my kids, hubby and I decided to camp there with our dog--first real camping trip for her! She's a rather excitable sort of dog (part Pointer, Lab and Australian Shepherd, among other things), so it kept us on our toes for using Cesar Millan techniques to try to keep her excited level as low as we could--especially when squirrels would make their appearance. ;)

The campground we stayed at, in addition to having some spiders that required a looking up in Bugs of Alberta, happened to be having one evening a little show on weasels. Well, ds has a thing for wolverines and having picked up Mammals of Alberta not long ago--which he immediately went through animal-by-animal, reading in-depth the ones he wanted to know more about--he really wanted to go see the show because wolverines are in the weasel family. He and I went and while it was a little babyish, there were some interesting things shared about different kinds of weasels found in the area and we both learned some things. Afterwards, naturally, he had to sit down with Mammals of Alberta again (thank goodness I brought the books along!) and he saw some of the weasels mentioned in the show that he hadn't really paid attention to before. Those "planting of seeds" we so often are encouraged to do at the elementary level in Montessori were in full force!

Another seed planting at the show was the discussion of bears being carnivores. We had all believed that carnivores ONLY ate meat; turns out this isn't true. Goes to show that I have not made it very far in animal classification with the kids, doesn't it? ;) Another seed planted that I could take advantage of to go a little deeper with this topic.

Just to bring up the books mentioned above, I don't know if such books are available for other regions, but I imagine so, and I highly recommend them as materials in your prepared environment. We have 4 such books: Birds of Alberta, Alberta Wayside Flowers and the two mentioned above. I will be checking out the publisher to see what other books they may have; I'd especially like one on trees or plants rather than just flowers. One thing I have to say, though, is that the things we see that we can't find in the books would make a wonderful project: keep your own bird/mammal/bug/etc. reference book. Of course, this is kind of like Charlotte Mason's nature notebook idea, but a little more focused so there is an additional reference available.

Dd found the longest, fattest earthworm we have ever seen.

He wasn't as outstretched as he could have been in the first photo and you can see in the second how he's bunched himself all up.

We also checked out some fancy cars and remote control cars and planes (there was some sort of car show going on), went on a very short walk in an area where there are bear warnings (NOBODY else was around, we had the dog with us and the deeper we got into the wilderness, the more ill-at-ease we were; it was an opportunity for the kids to learn that you ought to make noise when going through woods so that you don't surprise a bear--and to listen to your gut!), and found a little toy dinosaur we still have to identify.

A very busy trip! And very tiring. The poor dog is so tired out, she didn't even care about "supervising" us while we brought things in once we got back. She plopped herself on the ground at one point, then moved to a folded up blanket waiting to be put away and finally to her bed upstairs.

I'm guessing we won't see much of her tomorrow as she'll still need to sleep!

Responses to comments

2010-07-06T19:13:00.000-06:00

Supposedly, all the comments (including the originally missing one) are posted, but when I actually visit the blog, they are not there! I don't know what's going on with Blogspot at the moment. I may copy and paste the comments in myself later on. Here, however, is my response! I hope it makes sense! It took me at least a couple of hours, many distractions, etc.

---
What great feedback! It will help me in honing in better to explain things for those less familiar with this aspect of Montessori. It’s so easy to just come from a place of understanding that I don’t consciously think about and just kind of assume everyone’s at the same place I am!

I’m going to tackle evenspor’s comment first:

First, I’d like to make a distinction between imaginary play and fantasy play. Pretending a baby doll is a real baby is imaginary; pretending about fairies is fantasy. It’s impossible. They don’t exist and they certainly don’t have castles. I don’t know if Maria Montessori actually wrote about this distinction, but things I’ve gathered from things written by others make a big distinction between the two. Just to explain my use of fantasy in my previous posts.

My son (around 3 at the time) engaged in pretend play after we saw the car across the street on fire. He spent a week playing with a little fire truck and some cars and how the fire truck came to put out the fire on the cars. It was his way of processing the event and it was very good for him. That said: I would be appalled if a Montessori primary classroom I had him enrolled in had him spending his time pretending or encouraging him to pretend. I would not be spending the money for a Montessori education for him to be spending his time playing like that!

But, I will reiterate what I recall Maria Montessori actually writing on the topic: pretend/fantasy/imaginative (take your pick ;) ) play is normal, children do it, but for a child under 6, she felt, and I agree with her, that a school’s job is not to provide a means for imaginary play but to help the child better connect with the real world around them. That is not to say that imaginary play doesn’t have therapeutic purposes in certain situations, but we aren’t talking therapy here: we are talking an educational approach to teaching children ages 3-6.

I wonder if part of the problem is that Montessori is being seen as a “preschool”, which in many cases today is very much like an educational daycare (if you’re lucky!). Montessori is not a daycare; it is a school. Its aim is to educate. And so, again, I have to say that pretend play has no place to be encouraged, and must be absolutely discouraged when it happens with the materials, in a Montessori school. In a Montessori home, I would expect pretend play because a home is about raising the child 24 hours a day, not just 15-30 hours a week. (Just again a reminder that we are talking 3-6yo’s here; it’s an entirely different ball of wax for those above 6. And the original question was about using Montessori materials for fantasy play.)

Now as for fantasy play not accomplishing something real, I don’t think I actually said that. I think I said that it takes the child away from what is real and what is right now. Some imaginary play may connect the child with what is real, like my son at age 3, and some imaginary play is to substitute for something real the children would like to do that they can’t, like play kitchens and baby dolls, and other pretend play that is all about fun. But this has nothing to do with the instructional focus of what is Montessori education. I do not need to educate my son in how to play with fire trucks. :) (Of course, then there is fantasy/pretend play that goes too far where the child can not seem to disconnect from the play, either out of habit or escapism, but that might be a whole other topic).

The more I write this time, the more I feel I am focused on: Montessori is an educational approach, with an aim to be teaching the children something. The Montessori classroom for the 3-6’s is a school, not a preschool (which actually means “before school”). Montessori does not say pretend play is not allowed, simply not (usually) in the Montessori classroom where the focus is on developing a wide range of skills, developing concentration—reaching everything that it means to be “normalized”. How do you educationally address a young child’s fantasy play, especially when it was found over and over that if you connect them with a variety of here-and-now activities, they become focused and content and work very happily? And not only that, but do away with the pretend play on their own during that school time?

What am I talking about? Paula Polk Lillard describes in “Montessori in the Classroom” how she allowed a small box of toys in the classroom. At the end of each session in the beginning days, the children had time where they could choose one toy and play in a fashion that did not disturb others. It took very little time before the children kept themselves so busy with the activities available in the classroom that they did not even care about the toys. Maria Montessori had found the same thing years earlier. She had put toys in the classroom at first. They ended up untouched. I think that is very telling.

As for the “whole child” lauding, I find it hard to not take the term literally and don’t think any approach actually does it. ;) I don’t know if it’s a term Maria Montessori ever used to describe her philosophy or if others used it because of their understanding of what it means.

As for the second comment, about imagination-poor households: I don’t believe that’s the norm (although I do agree it’s an increasing phenomenon), especially for the likely well-to-do families sending their children to a Montessori school. Plus, the better schools ask parents to not have their young children watch TV, etc. But, I could just be naïve, I admit. I have heard of some Montessori primary classrooms allowing at the end of the day a brief period of imaginary play. I don’t know how they make it work or how it affects the child’s work or development during the other part of the day, especially since we are talking 3-6-year olds. But it might be a workable solution. In proper Montessori fashion, the directress would experiment and observe what happens over time with and without the playtime. I do not see how actually encouraging or allowing imaginary play with the materials (which was the original question) during the actual education time could be helpful to the classroom. Maybe the idea of the toy box shared above is one that could be kept, with the faith that what happened in the past in Montessori classrooms can happen again, as long as the activity levels are consistent with the Montessori approach (kids shouldn’t be running around screaming, etc.).

As for outdoor time, it really ought to be a part of a Montessori education, although I know it doesn’t always happen. That’s the particular problem of that Montessori school; I don’t think it would provide a reason for allowing pretend play.

As for imagination, the imagination of a 3-6yo is vastly different from the imagination of older children and adults. Calling the Pink Tower a fairy castle isn’t really what I would consider using the imagination to create something. This is a harder topic to cover and one I can’t really touch on at the moment; especially since this response is getting VERY long!

There is something about the objections that leave me with a feeling that there is a push for Montessori to be the perfect approach that will encompass every potential psychological, emotional, physical, social, etc. need, including those brought on by the disordered society in which we now find ourselves living. Part of that disorder is that we live in a society where so many schools and businesses and organizations try to be all things to all people. We can’t do it. The Montessori Method is an educational approach, not a method of therapy. It should not be a school, a therapy centre, a child-rescue centre, etc. and everything that it can possibly be to help children. It is a school. If a child’s home life is so disordered that a Montessori classroom has to change its ways in order to benefit him, it simply may not be the right place for that child. And yet, I can’t help thinking that a 3-6yo child deprived of imaginative time at home would still reach that point of normalization in a traditional Montessori classroom where he could be part of reality rather than in front of a tv screen or video games all day.

I can’t comment on Montessori’s assertion that “the imagination should be separated from the development of the child” because I don’t know where she ever said that. Her basic premise was that children already imagine and do a fine job at it (let’s leave the exceptions out of it!) and our job is to help the 3-6yo child connect with the world around them.

Those wishing to really understand where Maria Montessori came from on this topic really ought to rely on what she and even her son wrote and not how I am trying to explain it. :)

(Was this long enough? LOL!)

Just to add to the fantasy talk

2010-07-06T07:03:00.000-06:00

I recall reading in one of Maria Montessori's books something about the whole issue of fantasy play being likened to playing cards for adults: It is a wonderful diversion, but it would be a problem if it was so much a part of our lives, it took us away from other things.

Maria Montessori was not against fantasy play. She did seem concerned about children who pretty much only fantasy played (it's a real disconnect with reality!), but on the whole, she thought that fantasy play could provide clues to what the child would really like to do, that children would engage in it for fun, but the point of schooling for the Montessori Method is not to help the children engage in fantasy play. :)

More on fantasy

2010-07-06T06:55:00.000-06:00

I received a notification about a comment needing to be moderated, went to the Blogger dashboard, clicked on the link to get to the awaiting comment, and it was gone! I don't know if this is a Blogger issue or if the person who submitted the comment decided to remove it. If the person who submitted it did intended for it to be published, let me know and I will copy and paste it from my email!

In any case, it brought up a good point: Why is fantasy the no-no? Since kids all around the world do it naturally, just like they naturally walk on beams or lines, why the problem with it in the classroom? Why isn't it considered educational?

Maria Montessori writes about fantasy in The Absorbent Mind, I think, and possibly elsewhere. True fantasy takes the child AWAY from the present moment, AWAY from reality. Children under 6 already have such a shaky grasp on what is real and what's not. I still recall my nephew being absolutely serious when, at age 5, he told people he was going to be a Jedi when he grew up!

So my earlier response did not go as far as it really should have. Part of the answer as to why not fairy castles with the Pink Tower is because such activity takes the child away from reality at a time when they most need to connect with what's real. At the 3-6 level, Montessori is very focused on helping the children connect with the real world around them. It's why they are given child-sized brooms and sponges--so they can do these real life things on their own. And why they are allowed to engage in food preparation--so they can do these real life things on their own. The sensorial activities help them connect with the world around them through their senses. And so on. Making fairy castles with the Pink Tower does not help them do a real life thing!

Think of yourself if you are daydreaming or off in lala land while doing something else. You are not really connected with what you are doing, are you? If you were studying for a test of some sort and kept pretending something else, you wouldn't get very far with your learning, would you? This is no different for the child using the Montessori materials. Those materials ARE their "study materials". But not just any study materials: study materials to help them grow in the here and now.

I'm not saying that fantasy needs to be abolished from our homes. There is a time and place for fantasy play and with the Montessori Method, it is NOT with the materials that are designed to help the child develop in the here and now. Let them have some other blocks to make their fairy castle after your school time is over with. But let the Pink Tower be for what it was intended. :)

"Why shouldn't the children use the pink tower blocks to build a fairy castle?"

2010-07-05T19:02:00.000-06:00

The post title came from a question posted to a Montessori list. I came up with an answer and a couple of people liked my explanation, so I thought I'd share it here (I was responding to different things, hence the "First..."). I'd welcome any comments to make the explanation even better! And yes, it's specifically about ages 3-6.

First, to answer the question: Why can't they use the pink tower for building fairy castles?
Answer: Because that is not what the material was designed to do. We should not use our personal cars as battering rams ;), towels as clothes, forks as weapons, etc. It's part of setting limits on materials. Kids do not come preprogrammed to know how different things are supposed to be used and will use things in ways they really shouldn't. These are educational materials, not toys. But this is just part of it.

Another part of it is that it's being used for *fantasy play*, which Maria felt the children did well enough on their own, outside of school time, with materials they found (sticks, clothes, etc.). Her method's aim is to *educate* the children and they do not need any education in fantasy play, especially since so many children are prone to engage in fantasy play excessively. As stated above, the materials are educational materials; they are designed for the children's education. They are not educating themselves while lost in fantasy with the material. They are not getting the intended benefit of the material. Just as she cautions against presenting a material too early--because if it's done too early, they won't connect and they may see the material as nothing to connect with ever--using the material to make fairy castles will not help the child connect with the material properly, so the desired educational benefit is gone.

What are the pink blocks for? The direct aim is sensorial: to develop visual analysis skills in the area of dimension. The indirect aim with all the primary materials is to develop concentration; for this particular material, it is also a preparation for math. Is a child really concentrating on the blocks while she makes fairy castles? No.

The first goal for a child starting Montessori is to develop attention/concentration. That's part of the aim of the sensorial and practical life materials. I've read it recommended that a child not be presented with language, math or culture materials until they have developed concentration. (I don't know if it was Maria Montessori who recommended this or someone else.) If the child feels the desire to build a fairy castle with a material that's supposed to be helping her to focus, then she ought to be directed to an activity that will help her focus on the here and now, not an imaginary world.

Camping and other thoughts

2010-07-05T08:24:00.000-06:00

We've been sort of camping the past few days--sleeping in a tent at night out at my in-laws' lake house, but having full access to the house. lol. My husband's whole immediate family was there, which makes for 8 grandkids and 8 adults--it's hard to fit that many people in the house, so we tent!

Influenced already by Charlotte Mason, I wished I had nature journals already for the kids. I remember we had started some years ago, but didn't use them long. I think it's a shame. In any case, my Charlotte Mason readings are definitely having an effect! I don't have all the Montessori botany and animal cards and all that; CM provides an alternative to connect with the world around us.

These camping days have also really left me wanting to get started now on some routines. One problem in the way of that is that we've got a couple more trips coming up, which will really get in the way. I guess I have to make do with what I have.

Being with all the kids, seeing some of what my 5yo niece was choosing to do, talking with her mom about my almost 10yo nephew (yes, 5yo's older brother) and his very serious desire to homeschool with us starting this fall (his parents aren't ready to make that leap yet, although it's been in discussion for years), led me to see that to serve them best, I really need to set up our time together this summer during at least August (they have one week with me in July, then off 2 weeks, then with me for the rest of August) to have some sort of "school" routine. Have lots of activities planned. I know I've said this in the past; I hope this is not just another passing fancy. I feel more emotionally connected to this idea this time.

One of the things that my nephew and nieces' mom said is that my nephew seems to have the idea that if he's at my place, he can just spend all his days on his bike or scooter--because when he comes, the kids tend to have a day off and don't do school work, so he doesn't see that side of it. So, my thinking is that if I'm already into a schooly routine with my kids, I need to keep going, incorporating some things specifically for nephew and nieces, and he will get a good feel for what it would be like, plus it'd keep my kids in routine AND provide some educational "benefits" (for lack of a better word) to them all. :)

--

Moving ahead to the fall, with the reading I've been doing in "Home Education" and Levison's "More Charlotte Mason Education", things are starting to sort themselves out in my head as to how to structure things. I'm not sure yet how much time to start the 16yo off with in his studies, but I did have the thought, "There is NO way he will get all of his science done if he only does 20 minutes a day!" Then I had the thought: "Don't think of it as a single course: it is 4 subjects in one course. He can do 20 minutes of bio, 20 minutes of physics, 20 minutes of chem and 20 minutes of environmental studies each day." Aha! That's already almost an hour and a half of work. Of course, his ELA will need to be broken up into handwriting, spelling/dictation, reading instruction then his actual ELA credit work. Which I have to still figure out. Same thing for his math--he can cover two topic areas in math per day. Math is actually a strong subject for him--he picks it up quickly when he allows himself to. A couple of the math units don't require that other units be done before, so I think it could work, especially if the units are different enough.

--

Back to this summer... (Sorry, I'm just typing as it comes. Tenting has meant not sleeping as well because of the darn birds waking me up ridiculously early in the morning and I'm very tired!) Ds was "helping" his Dad play cards last night. His Dad asked him to pick up two cards. He was playfully counting them, "Un.... deux..." So I playfully challenged to say it in German. He's forgotten how to count in German! Well, that got dd going, though, and I said a few things here and there and their grandparents asked a couple of things, so now dd has had her desire to learn German rekindled, so that's good. I do need to figure out a routine. I have an idea written out, but not specific enough yet. And I'm going to have to plan some specifics. That's one thing reading Levison's book reminded me of: When things were going wonderfully smoothly around here, I knew exactly the minimum work I wanted them to get done. Very specifically.

--

Okay, enough for now!

Fantastic Primary Website

2010-07-02T07:25:00.000-06:00

I've been to this site numerous times but noticed I didn't have it in my links. For those of you starting out at the primary (Casa; 3-6 yo's) level, this site is great! Even those of you starting with early elementary will find some useful activities. It goes through just about all of the lessons one could present at the primary level:

http://www.infomontessori.com/

And sometimes science just falls into your hands... er... yard

2010-06-30T08:06:00.000-06:00

With the insane thunderstorm systems going through last night, our front tree must have been shaken a lot. Dh woke up this morning to find a bird's nest fallen from the tree! I'm pretty sure it's a new nest, which makes it sad to see; all that work ended in a flash. (No pun intended!)

However, that does make for a science opportunity for us! Dh picked it up and put it on the back porch (the mud used in it is very moist right now).

You can't see the piece of plastic ribbon the bird used!

It's very cool to look at, though, and will provide an opportunity to learn more about how birds make nests. And maybe even figure out what kind of bird made this nest.

Corrections

2010-06-29T20:19:00.000-06:00

On one of the Montessori lists, the topic came up about Montessori does not have correction. Self-correction or built-in correction, but the teacher does not go around correcting students' work. Even at the elementary level.

Just now reading from "More Charlotte Mason Education", Levison had a part about narration and how it wasn't a time for the listener (the teacher/adult) to interject their own thoughts, but to listen. I realized: Charlotte Mason, too, did not believe in correcting students' narrations. It was about seeing what they remembered, what made an impression on them, not about seeing what they didn't remember. Levison continued with what to do if the child isn't doing a great job with narrations: modify the next narrations. Again, just like Montessori!

My feel at the moment is that there are going to be some parts that are definitely at odds with each other, yet CM could provide different ways of doing certain work, plus provide the what. It gets complicated providing the what at the elementary and above levels in Montessori. So much of it is tied with group work or materials or hands-on activity (like running a school shop at the jr. high level). It's just not practical in the home.

The Charlotte Mason reading has begun!

2010-06-27T09:11:00.000-06:00

I decided to get started on the CM reading yesterday, starting with Home Education by Charlotte Mason herself and "More Charlotte Mason Education" by Catherine Levison. I thought I'd share here comments, observations and comparisons.

I've only made it through the many prefaces of Home Education. Some of what I took note of:

*"the child is a person with all the possibilities and powers included in personality"
-this isn't really any different from Montessori; the idea of respecting the child as his/her own person, with his/her own personality, interests, abilities, etc.

*"that Education is the Science of Relations... as showing that the object of education is to put a child in touch with as much as may be of the life of Nature and of thought"
-this sounds very much like Maria Montessori's Cosmic Education; having children be connected with the world, thinkers, etc. To see the interconnectedness.

*"Add to this one or two keys to self-knowledge, and the educated youth goes forth with some idea of self-management, with some pursuits, and many vital interests."

Then there is the list of principles (there are only 18, whereas Ambleside Online lists 20 hm). Some in particular that I liked or noted:

*"4. These principles are limited by the respect due to the personality of children, which must not be encroached upon, whether by fear or love, suggestion or influence, or undue play upon any one natural desire."
-I really like this and think it fits so superbly well with Montessori, Choice Theory, etc. Since principle 3 had to do with authority and obedience, I think it's safe to say she is saying it is not our place to impose our *selves* onto children and who they are as individual people. It is also not our place to use fear to control children, threats, withdrawal or promise of love, etc., as part of our authority.

*The three "educational instruments":

atmosphere of environment
discipline of habit
presentation of living ideas

Principle 6 is all about Atmosphere of Environment where she states:

By saying, EDUCATION IS AN ATMOSPHERE, it is not meant that a child should be isolated in what may be called a 'child environment,' especially adapted and prepared; but that we take into account the educational value of his natural home atmosphere, both as regards persons and things, and should let him live freely among his proper conditions. It stultifies a child to bring down the world to the 'child's' level.

I think it's safe to say she didn't like the Montessori Method much. ;) lol. Btw, "stultifies" has as definitions "cripples", "renders useless". I think the Montessori Method has proved that making the environment more child-friendly does not in any way cripple a child! Of course, there is a huge difference between this volume and the Montessori approach in that this volume assumes a child will be at home, in a loving atmosphere with a mother at home. The Montessori method started out in a large room for children whose mothers were working and they could not stay at home. One's home shouldn't be completely aimed at a child, with the intention of "isolating" him to a child-sized environment, but I do think providing certain child-friendly things can definitely help!

This principle actually has me thinking of something. Many Montessori homeschoolers try to have a separate room set up for "school time" and that's where they go for their school hours. This may be more in line with what Charlotte Mason is referring to in terms of isolating a child to a child environment. People often ask on lists, "How have you set up your Montessori classroom/environment?", to which I respond something along the lines of, "My whole house is our Montessori environment." There's no need to isolate a child to a specific area of the home. It definitely creates a different atmosphere and feeling to the education! (Of course, some people find it really helps their homeschooling to do that; so be it! :) )

That's all I can write for now. I'm not even half done writing about my notes. I'm going to have to pick and choose or I could end up spending more time blogging about my reading than in reading. ;)

Now it feels like school is done!!!

2010-06-26T07:56:00.001-06:00

This week was just intense for me. I worked on some gifts for the 19yo as graduation gifts and they took up pretty much my entire time this week! My kitchen table was covered in scrapbooking stuff. My poor house is falling apart, especially the den. But, with our little party done and school stuff cleaned out (although Bob still needs to come finish cleaning up his stuff), now it actually feels like school is done for the year.

Of course, that doesn't mean that learning is over with. With the World Cup, geography questions are popping up. "Where's this country? What about this one?" Dd's been reading and writing A LOT. Even been doing some poetry. She's done some nice poems in the past, but her most recent one really had "the feel", if you know what I mean? You could feel the storm she was writing about, the changes in it. Good stuff.

Ds has been pretty much in soccer mode. Watching the World Cup, playing soccer in the house, in the yard and for his actual soccer games. He's back to reading Garfields. Ah well. I have decided that I will have him work on his handwriting this summer. Just haven't figured out how yet. A daily journal? Daily worksheets? Actually, I suppose the best thing to do would be to talk to him about it!

Other than that, I really don't know. I know I've blogged recently about summer, but at the moment, I'm in wind-down mode. And get-the-house-back-in-shape mode. One thing I can say is that the little table got cleared off this week so the kids could actually have a place to eat. It's nice having the table completely cleared! I had kept on the table the little ones' crayon box, a little organizer with scissors, markers, pens and pencils, etc., in it and a magazine file with various colouring books, plain paper and workbooks. I'm thinking I will move that all downstairs to the shelves. It was so nice without it all on the table. Of course, that also makes sense to do given they only have 3 more days with me until late July--the little table is probably going to disappear into the basement at least until then.

All right, I'm going to do some unwinding before I start a crazy day. :D And once everybody's actually up, make myself a green smoothie. I haven't had one in days and I'm really missing it.

Some more ideas

2010-06-23T05:52:00.002-06:00

*Making a grocery list
*Budgeting (for a project, in general)
*Handling an allowance

Practical Life for Elementary and Above

2010-06-22T10:37:00.000-06:00

I welcome all ideas to be added in the comments! The discussion came up on a list about what kinds of things are Practical Life activities at the 6-9 level. I'm thinking here to broaden it a bit and to think about PL for those over 6. Here are just some to start:

HOUSEHOLD
-laundry: sorting, washing, drying, folding, ironing, stain treatment
-dusting, mopping, vacuuming
-walls, windows, mirrors
-decluttering, organizing, filing, etc.
-beds, bathrooms, daily tidying, dishes
-food prep
-pet care: litter, dog poop cleaning, cage cleaning, feeding, water, etc.
-renovations: removal of stuff, nailing, painting, sanding, carrying, placing, prepping, etc.
-plant care

OUTDOOR
-gardening
-lawn mowing and other lawn care
-windows, power wash siding
-wash outside of car
-take care of mail
-bike maintenance: fill tires, replace a tire, check chain, oil chain, other repairs and maintenance
-when old enough, car maintenance, esp. how to change a tire

TECHNOLOGICAL
-use phone, answering machine, speed dial, etc.; how to take messages for others, how to answer the phone politely
-use a printer, replace paper, photocopy, scan, replace ink cartridges
-check library due dates online; know how to find things on the web
-typing (more for ages 9+)
-using DVD, blu-ray, recording shows (educational, of course ;) )
-install software
-computer programming, including website development

MANUAL/CREATIVE WORK
-sewing, crocheting, knitting, etc.
-scrapbooking
-photography

This is just a quick list. Please feel free to add more ideas!

Last full week!

2010-06-21T21:59:00.000-06:00

This week is the last full week. My nieces will be here all week, then only 3 days next week, along with their brother (9 and goes to school). The 16yo will be here until at least Thursday. That leaves us tomorrow, Wed. and Thursday to get through his boxes of stuff! At the same time, I've a gift project I need to work on and have done for Friday morning and let's just say the project is going very slowly!!!

Today, we spent the day out at a park at a yearly end-of-year potluck "breakfast" (more like brunch, or even late lunch ;) ). We have not made it out a lot this year for a variety of reasons (weather, H1N1, other illnesses, too much work...) and it was so good to get out, let the kids loose, have some fun in the sun, although I stayed in the shade most of the time. It was a great time!

My nieces, however, started with the crazy goofy interactions this morning. It's been a while since it's been that bad because I was so good at interrupting and redirecting. This morning, though, I was very focused on the need to get ready for the park, as well as some housecleaning, so I let it go. Of course, I couldn't really hear it above the vacuum cleaner. lol. But, tomorrow, I need to nip that in the bud. It would be so much better if I had less going on and could really think about Montessori activities to engage them in. My 2yo niece, for example, really ought to be presented with the Touch Boards. She has started pulling out the Sandpaper Letters and runs her finger every which way on them. Now, she's 2, so it can be a tricky issue to redirect a child determined on doing something, even if that something they are doing isn't quite right. I'd love to start showing her how to do some of the letters--she's a very, very, very bright kid--but she's very clearly not really paying any attention to staying on the sandpaper, which is where the presentation of the Touch Boards, followed by the Touch Tablets, will come in handy. I will probably be able to actually introduce her properly to the Sandpaper Letters in late fall. (She will be with me one week late July, then not with me, then back with me for most of August. She turns 3 in Nov.)

Dd decided to do some German the other night. Unfortunately, her idea was to take some of the kiddy books I'd taken out from the library and try to make sense of them, writing something down (not sure if she was just copying what she understood or translating). It was "unfortunately" because a couple of the books were actually rather confusing and very wordy, so that didn't go over so well! Right now, she is desperately and impatiently waiting for "How to Be a Pirate", the 2nd book in the "How to Train Your Dragon" series. She read the first book, we saw the movie (excellent movie, btw), then found out there was a whole series and put in a request for each of the books from the library. I think she's got every single book now from the library EXCEPT the 2nd one, and she's something like 6th in line for that one and the books that are out aren't due for another week and I don't think she would be part of the batch of people who would get those books; she'd have to wait another 3 weeks before those ones were due and back. She could be waiting a while. So, we ordered the 2nd one on the weekend (no store in town had it from what we could find in online catalogues) and it should be here tomorrow or Wednesday. Good thing she's a fast reader because all of the rest of the series has holds on them (the ones she has out), so she's going to have to read them all in the span of about 2 weeks!

That reminds me: I need to learn how to either track what my kids do and/or train them to track what they do. There is so much reading and other stuff going on that never gets noted and it's so easy to think that nothing is done.

What else? We went to see Toy Story 3 last Friday. EXCELLENT movie! We had a hard time deciding if it was better than the 1st or not.

Enough of my babbling tonight. I'm going to bed.

Art galore!

2010-06-18T08:51:00.000-06:00

Art has been the theme recently. Not a theme I introduced, just what the kids have been turning to! Lots of colouring and painting and drawing and crafty things going on. It's always a shame they don't have that kind of passion for cleaning. ;)

I guess it would be helpful if I took pictures more often, wouldn't it? Ah well. Not today. lol.

Other than that, my 5yo niece asked to do the movable alphabet with me. It's been a while and it's reminded me that I have to teach her the digraph sounds in French. She hasn't a clue once she hits the sound and none of the letters match up, so she asks me and I tell her, but it would be good if she could really do the activity all on her own!

Not much else going on. We've been working on Father's Day gifts, went to Fort Edmonton earlier this week, have some cleaning and organizing left to do... All of that takes up plenty of time. The Father's Day gifts alone have required multiple outings to Michaels. :)

Perrytech $100 Giveaway!!

2010-06-15T06:11:00.001-06:00

The deadline is June 20, so, if you want to win a $100 credit for Montessori materials, go enter ASAP!!!

http://www.mommymoment.ca/2010/06/perrytech-montessori-100-giveaway.html

The more people who enter will mean the more Perrytech will do giveaways! Enter today! :)

Next year's science

2010-06-14T05:58:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking long and hard about the programs offered here: http://www.scienceforhighschool.com/ . In particular, the high school biology and chemistry. Those are the two that most interest dd and the chemistry would work for much of Bob's upcoming high school work. I hadn't ordered and I think I figured out this morning why: the program is so simply set up (which is FANTASTIC), that, other than the convenience of having the labs already decided and the quizzes already written up, I don't really need it. It's $80US (not counting shipping) per subject, just for the basic materials. Since Bob needs to at least meet Alberta Program of Studies outcomes, and dd will do the same, I think I would be much better off simply taking the outcomes and the text, creating assignment sheets for the week based on what they are actually supposed to know--instead of going through Biology/Chemistry in Your Home and figuring out what's missing--and taking it from there. It also encourages me more to prepare some things in French for dd, rather than just have her use the English book.

Are my thoughts making sense? It's not even 6am and it was probably about 11:30 before I fell asleep last night!

In any case, I do very much like the approach. The students are given weekly assignment pages and are expected to research the answers. It actually sounds like something that would be done in a Montessori high school. They can use any resource they wish, have to learn to budget their time for the week, are involved in seeking out answers, rather than simply reading through a textbook and taking notes, then doing practice problems, etc. That's another issue, actually: Alberta curriculum IS different and covers more than the standard US high school science class, getting into what is usually honors or AP.

For those who don't know what to teach for high school science, these are a God-send, I think. I already know what my kids have to learn to meet Alberta outcomes--or rather, I have available to me a document that says what they have to learn--so that's not really the issue. Just trying to find a more interesting, active approach to the subjects rather than just reading a textbook!

Montessori High School

2010-06-12T07:23:00.001-06:00

Great links!
http://www.montessorihighschool.org/curriculum_events.htm "Maria Montessori called her syllabus for ages 12-18 a "Preparation for Adult Life," implying that the student must make a connection between learning and living a purposeful adult life."

http://www.montessorihighschool.org/younger_level_elements_of_study.htm

http://www.montessorihighschool.org/older_level_elemts_of_study.htm

A Charlotte Mason Education

2010-06-12T06:06:00.000-06:00

I had ordered the Complete Homeschooling Series by Charlotte Mason and received the shipment yesterday. Of course, I wanted to start in right away, but I have a couple of thick books out from the library I need to finish soon because I won't be able to renew them. So, I did not start reading them, but remembered that I have A Charlotte Mason Education out from the library. I'm not sure how long I've had it out nor when it's due. It's a short little book, so I started it last night and finished it this morning.

I've read some Charlotte Mason stuff before and am always left with mixed feelings, as I am now. The scheduled structure of it does not appeal to me, and yet I could see how for Bob, the structure would be helpful in terms of training to stay on task and get a lot of work done quickly. He'll be faced with that in post-secondary, so part of me is saying this is a habit that needs to be worked on. In particular when others are around. Montessori high schools do have schedules, but not quite like Charlotte Mason. At the same time, there is such a broad education offered to the children in CM, just like in Montessori, with some very practical, home-based ways to do it. That's one advantage CM has over Montessori for homeschoolers: CM was designed for use in the home. Montessori was designed for large, multi-aged groups in a classroom.

The books recommended by CM are really great. Part of me is thinking again, after several years, of combining some of CM's materials with Montessori. But the thoughts aren't sorted out yet. As I read the Series over the summer, as well as Montessori books, I hope a clearer vision of how to meld the two will develop!

Cake baking!

2010-06-11T12:45:00.000-06:00

We are getting together with family on the weekend, and part of the get-together is to celebrate my nieces' mother's birthday. We were asked to bring the cake specifically so the girls could help with it.

I'm not a "from scratch" cake baker, so I led the girls, 2.5 and 5, through the whole baking routine: wash hands, put on aprons, follow the instructions on the box to get all of the measurements ready, etc. My 2.5yo niece had a wonderful time pouring things into the bowl and the 5yo greased one of the pans and then helped me pour the batter into the pans. Of course, the "best" part of the whole process for them was licking the spoons afterwards. ;)

Montessori this summer

2010-06-09T19:02:00.001-06:00

With school being essentially over for us tomorrow (yay!!!! I'm so ready to be done!), I've been thinking about summer and some goals and educational things that aren't necessarily schooly, but definitely in line with Montessori. One thing I feel I've severely neglected with my kids, and am comforted by others telling me they feel the same way about their own kids, is not having them do enough practical life around the house.

I think I've brought this up in the past. I had made progress here and there, but it has always gone back to what it was. A goal for this summer is to have the kids much more involved in the care of themselves, the house, the pets, their laundry, etc. I decided even to start right away--why wait until summer? :D Ds got some serious mud marks on a brand new WHITE shirt (yes, yes, I know: 9yo boys and white shirts do not go together) and I was sorting the laundry and discovered it. I told him to come with me, that I was going to show him what to do about it. I took the bottle of Shout and explained what had to be done and *he* asked if he could do the spraying! Yay! Then we rubbed the fabric together (he was a little put off at first because it gets on your hands; I told him it does that and he can wash his hands after--all it took to remove the resistance). It was so simple, so quick, and he's perfectly capable of doing this himself. Of course, I continued doing the laundry by myself. *sigh* BUT, I discovered that the jumbo size of Tide (I think it's Tide I have) has a very cool dispenser where you push a button down to have the stuff come out and I know they are going to want their turns doing that.

And see, they want to do this stuff. Maybe not all of it all the time, but it so often happens that it's a desire to not have the other one do it, or a desire to not let me do it. Like tonight with the spray. Although, me TELLING them to do something doesn't go over well, but me having them come with me to do stuff, no problem. But I can't ask them, usually, it just has to be a direct... um... direction (lol) to come with me. I might give them a choice within whatever we are doing, but the direction needs to be there.

So, there it is, my goal for this summer: to direct them more in the daily practical life activities. They can help with supper, laundry, bathroom, outside work, scrubbing their own stains, etc. We can set up a chart about who is helping with supper one day, etc. NOT a reward chart. ;) (Those new to Montessori may not understand, but I can explain later, if you wish!)

It's not that they don't do things: they help set the table, clear the table, they are responsible for making their beds, they scoop out the cat litter boxes... But, they could be a part of it more. And for dd, who is nearly 13 and craving that sense of do-it-myself, it's vital.

Other Montessori plans for the summer: read Montessori books. I'm going to start with "Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful." I think I'll post in here what pages I've read and any notes and thoughts I may have on what I've read. It's such a fantastic book! While it deals with difficult situations with certain children, it so embodies the Montessori spirit, I'm always left feeling great. And with some great ideas. I recommend the book heartily!

Summer Plans

2010-06-09T06:11:00.001-06:00

Just want to quickly jot down some ideas of things to do this summer. We have all kinds of projects not-quite-started, started and not finished, things we'd like to do... If I can write the list down somewhere that can't get lost (lol), all the better:

*dd has a mini quilting kit
*decluttering the kids' rooms
*guitar (that reminds me, I find a program for kids and haven't ordered it yet)
*German
*make rosaries (still have to finish buying all of the supplies for this one)
*scrapbooking

There's other stuff. I can't remember it at the moment. :(

EDIT:
*I have a crocheted bag I started almost 2 years ago that I want to finish up.
*amigurumis
*send off a Flat Traveler
*dd has a cross-stitch she has been wanting to work on
*she also has a painting course book she may start

School is almost done!!!

2010-06-09T06:08:00.000-06:00

Bob is doing his last exam tomorrow. Probably tomorrow morning. Then I think we'll bring in all of his borrowed texts!!!! :D

All other school stuff has kind of been thrown by the wayside. For now. :)

Oh, the irony!

2010-05-30T17:25:00.001-06:00

I've been reading things on Charlotte Mason and LD kids. I was just reading an article put out by the PNEU in the late 1800s where they recommended as part of the intellectual instruction of "feeble-minded" (which anybody with any kind of problem would have been labelled "feeble minded") students that Seguin's method of learning through the senses be used.

Why is that ironic? Because, from what I've read, Charlotte Mason did not really care for the Montessori Method at all. And yet, the PNEU was recommending Seguin's methods, which are EXACTLY what the Montessori Method is based on. Ha!

That does have me thinking, though, that I maybe need to find ways to do more sensory-type education with the 15yo. The CM approach of reading (or listening) and then narrating is going to be rather dull for things like high school science. Plus, there are all kinds of activities I could pull from The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun which would also provide the sensory stimulation he so often seems to crave. The activities are just plain fun and could be part of fun time in the afternoons.

Thinking About Next Year

2010-05-29T22:35:00.001-06:00

Specifically, the approach to take for the 15yo.

This year was a better year than previous years, but he's a happier kid than in previous years. It makes a difference. He's not quite so anxious, so willing to go a step further. I don't know if any of the Choice Theory I had been learning has stayed and helped or not. But I need to go further with him.

My reading list for this summer, well, starting this past week, actually, in terms of preparing for the fall:

*Marva Collins' Way
*Ordinary Children, Extraordinary Teachers (also by Marva Collins)
*Charlotte Mason's Home Education Series
*Various Choice Theory books, and probably Reality Therapy in Action, plus Every Student Can Succeed (by William Glasser)

If I'm going to stick to the Montessori philosophy, I actually have to accept that things need to be more structured, time needs to be more filled up for him. Marva Collins appeals to me because she has used her approach with various ages, and with great success, and it is an approach that is just what I said: time is filled up. Not with busywork, though, with work that matters. That is what Choice Theory asks of schools, too: that the work be meaningful, that it meet students' needs and have a purpose, not just give them work for the sake of working. Marva, too, has a huge focus on telling the kids they are capable, filling them with positive sayings, and she focuses, too, on how they choose to behave. Although she's far more intense than William Glasser probably has in mind--and probably more intense than I can reasonably manage--she's still an excellent model in what to have them work on and how to have them think critically and positively.

Charlotte Mason re-entered my mind yesterday and I've been looking at the method more today. What appeals to me with Charlotte Mason is the focus on basic skills, like Marva, but also the short chunks of time. Now, with an older student, the blocks aren't supposed to be super short, and as I've kind of worked some thoughts out for the fall I've realized that it would be ridiculous to make all of his blocks 15 minutes to start, but there are definite things like copywork, spelling, quick math review before a lesson and things like that that can have a shorter time limit to work on having him focus more and to keep to a time limit. He wants to go to post-secondary in 2 years; he's going to have to gently become more used to time limits. Now, with most kids I'd say, "Oh, kids are adaptable; we don't need to start working on this now," but his history of anxiety and resistance to change he hasn't initiated--or that doesn't "benefit" him in some way, from his point of view--have me thinking I need to take more action in this area.

Another thing I need to do over the summer is to figure out how to approach his school work next year. He is doing APS courses, but he will be registered in such a way that we get to work with the teacher from the school to do something different from the correspondence modules. I'm pretty sure for Math, I want to use SNAP, which means--it hits me now--that I need to order this ASAP because the math program is changing and while he'll be allowed to use SNAP in the fall, most other schools will have a completely different math program, making SNAP Math Pure obsolete! He'll be doing Math 10P for the first half of the year, then Math 20P for the second half. I also plan on building in review, starting from the beginning of math concepts, if need be! He's got such a capable mind when it comes to math, but he doesn't ever do enough practice, so it's like having to start over all the time. I want to make a specific plan this summer with a thorough breakdown of what to review and when. I'm almost tempted to make use of some Saxon lessons for the practice sheets.

His science is going to be a little more complicated. Math is one thing to do from a text; a hands-on kid interested in science needs more than a textbook! He's going to be doing Science 10 first semester and my thoughts at the moment are to make it research-based, tied with experiments (where applicable), possibly notebooking for the main research areas, with the textbook as a support and as a means of giving quizzes and the like. He is not required to do an exam and I honestly think I will ask for Science 10 that he not do one and that we figure out some other final evaluation that covers the course. Exam practice is good for him, but half the course is practically useless to him and will be difficult at this point to get him engaged in learning for an exam. (I can't remember now if he picked Chem 20 or Physics 20 to do second semester. If we can get his work habits down really well first semester, he could do both second semester.)

Other than that, he'll be doing ELA 20-2 all year. That will give him plenty of time to not only cover the APS requirements, but also for me to work on all those little skills of his that are lagging but could be better. I actually think that one of the things we will cover for ELA is the book "Learning Outside the Lines" which was written by two Ivy League students who are LD and ADHD respectively. Part of their stories are in there and he will be able to relate; the other part is about empowerment and skills, which will be instructive. But I've gone off on something I wasn't planning on getting into. Planning, that's what I was talking about. So, for ELA 20-2, that will be easy enough to plan, but I still have to be specific enough for deadlines for the school. I'm not going to do this theme nonsense he had to do with the correspondence packages. Ok, maybe "nonsense" is too harsh a word. It just feels very disjointed when things are split up all over the place, with poetry done in this module booklet, then 4 booklets later, it's showing up again. He and I are alike in that respect: let's just cover it well, maybe review it to remember, but let's get it done and move on!

That's another thing: I want to cover learning strategies, study skills, etc. with him.

But it's now after 10:30pm and I'm feeling exhausted. At least I have some of my thoughts down so I can come back and read them and think about them later instead of having them mill around in my head all the time. ;)

Not sure there's any progress!!

2010-05-28T19:41:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, everybody was super tired, which led certain children to severe crankiness. Man. I'm not sure any school work got done. Today, the 15yo got a bit done and dd immersed herself in friendship bracelets, discovering that we didn't have any embroidery thread, which prompted us to make a visit to Michaels this afternoon.

I slept over 8 hours last night. That is highly unusual for me (with a past average of 6.5-7 hours, even though I used to sleep 8.5 hours before I had kids!), although it's happening more often recently. In the past, when I would wake up early, I'd just stay up because I usually wasn't able to fall back asleep, although I'm not sure how determined I was to fall asleep. ;) The past couple of months, I've been getting myself back to sleep most days, which has been great, but Thursday morning wasn't one of those! I could have used even another 30 minutes!

Other than that, made another green smoothie this morning. Unfortunately, I used bananas that weren't ripe enough and dd asked to try it, despite the creepy colour. Dang, not the best first experience. I ended up having to throw it out because no matter how I adjusted it, I couldn't make it better. :( (I ought to be posting this perhaps on my new blog: http://exploringrawfoods.blogspot.com/ Feel free to visit me over there!)

What else? Am in looking-back-at-the-year mode. I'm sure I have the same self-evaluations as I've had in the past. I could probably go to one of my posts a few years back and it'd be roughly what I'd say today. Hm. What does that mean? Am I focusing on the wrong things, or not getting my act together enough? Maybe a little of both. ;) I've also been trying to figure out resources and plans for next year.

Guess that's it for now!

I've fallen of the posting wagon

2010-05-26T08:11:00.000-06:00

Hm, what's gone on in the past week or so?

I still have not done the Golden Beads for a second time with the 5yo. :( Other than that, it's been trying to get the 15yo to get all of his work done, we've watched some movies, been to the library... I really don't know.

For the long weekend, dd was gone to Jasper, ds spent holiday Monday at his cousin's, I spent Sunday pretty much sick. Hm. That's about it.

So, let's move into today and forward instead of trying to figure out what happened? lol.

The end of school is almost here. Had the year-end review for the 19yo--she's pretty much officially done! At least on paper. The 15yo will soon be 16, but he'll be working his butt off for the next week and a half to get all of his work done in time. He has until Wed. to get his math done and until next Friday to get his English done. Then he has to do an exam for each of those subjects. THEN he's officially done for the year! Other than the cleaning I'm going to have him do. hehehe. Well, there are different field trips scheduled already for that week, plus we need to talk about his school work for next year, what he thinks he would like to do to meet APS requirements for science, ELA...

Dd is still enjoying Life of Fred. She's pretty tired this morning; I'm not sure what I'll get out of her for work. Ds got a Bionicles book from Scholastic (for free--a consolation gift for not yet having something else we'd ordered) and he's been reading that and playing outside. I'm kind of tempted to just leave him for now, although I'd like him to finish his math unit on reading time.

Well, everybody's going to be here in a few minutes. I need to finish up my first ever Green Smoothie (I have to admit it, I was scared, but I can't even tell the spinach is in it!) and get moving with this day!

It's feeling like summer!

2010-05-17T16:50:00.000-06:00

29.6C on my outdoor thermometer--in the shade! That's normally July weather around here. How funny that we had snow a couple of weeks ago, and now scorching heat.

Everybody's falling into summer mode, though. It's tough to get the kids working when it's suddenly hot like this. They'd rather be outside playing, or eating freezies or something.

Bob asked about park day today. I reminded him of all of the work he has to get done in the next 2 weeks. He said 3 weeks. I said, no, *2* weeks. Oh. My nieces were also to be picked up as of 3pm, which had already added to the no of going. He went outside for a very short while right before eating lunch, came back in, said it was super hot outside (and that was around 23-25 degrees outside), I brought up that I didn't want the girls to go outside much, and Bob said something about it being maybe a bad idea for the littlest one to be at park day with this kind of heat. Yup. I know there are people who live in much hotter climates who are probably thinking we're big wimps ;), but we're not used to this kind of heat!

Then Bob said we've been anti-social hermits this year, which has been kind of true. It wasn't intentional. They didn't want to go to park day in September and October, for November there was H1N1, December was catching up time, January was finishing and exam time, February we got sick AGAIN (hey, better than last year when I had shingles in February!), March was some catching up again and the weather wasn't always great for April... We haven't held the get-togethers we used to and more. Maybe next year. It's been kind of nice to have a year where we're not constantly out doing things during the day. Especially since my kids have been busier in the evenings and on weekends.

Not sure if it's the heat or what, but the girls were much calmer today. I did pull out the Golden Bead Tray, but the 5yo never asked about it. Other than that, we got some of Bob's English done in the morning, the 3 oldest worked on cursive a bit, and we watched "Cool Runnings" as part of Bob's English--for the film study he needs to do. That took us until almost 2pm, so that was pretty much it for the day.

I ought to be doing some cleaning, but I'd rather not. LOL. But I have a goal of getting the level cleaned up nicely where the Montessori shelves are, and of removing some things from those shelves since a lot of things aren't being used, so I really need to get myself moving. The shelves will be more aimed towards my nieces instead of having lots of things for the older kids. My mind keeps going, "But it's pretty much summer, they won't be here," but then I have to remind myself: there is actually about a month and a half left before they are done with me before summer AND they'll be back in August! The heat is fooling me! ;)

I remember!

2010-05-16T06:29:00.000-06:00

The other day, when I had shown the Movable Alphabet to my niece and I was trying to remember what else we had done, I now remember that I *did* show her something else: the Golden Beads. I have to make a point of working with her on them again tomorrow.

Just procrastinating

2010-05-15T14:18:00.000-06:00

Well, kind of taking a break from cleaning and just thought I'd post about other school stuff.

12yo dd is loving Life of Fred! She's made it to the first "bridge" in the book (a little test section--very neatly done because the kids do the first try, if they don't get 9 or 10 out of 10, they correct their mistakes and do the 2nd try; same thing and so it goes for 5 tries, I think, at which point they have to restart with the 1st try if they still haven't gotten it) and was very pleased with herself. I think that means she's done 5 lessons. Now Bob is saying that if he had something fun to do like that, he'd work willingly, too. lol. I'm glad dd is finding it FUN. There are a few things here and there I do have to help her with because she's not done much simple division and never done long division, but other than that, she's enjoying it, feeling capable and I'm seeing her love of math come back. She doesn't remember ever having a love of math, but I remember the little 3-, 4- and 5yo she was who loved counting and adding and subtracting, who could tell me rather quickly at the age of 5 that 9+9 was 18. "How'd you figure it out so quickly?" A self-discovered strategy that she explained something like this: "10 + 10 is 20, and there's one less of each, so it's 18." We've already been discussing plans for next school year and she's already decided she wants to continue with Life of Fred. If she keeps going the rate she's going, I may have to get the 3rd book for fall!

Other than that... Ds played a neat little tune this morning on his guitar. I asked him if Bob had taught him it. No. "You just made it up?" "Yes," with an embarrassed little smile. Very cool.

That reminds me: dd has said she really wants to learn guitar next school year. I'm thinking it would be a great summertime learning activity! Ds has his own guitar and I have a concert-size guitar dd would be able to play. I've had it for a few years now (my mom got it in the early 70s, hasn't played it since the 70s, so got it fixed up a bit and gave it to me as a present as I love musical instruments) and have been wanting to learn, too, so guitar is one of the plans for this June, July and August. She also really wants to make more progress on German, which is another thing I can easily incorporate into our days this summer--if I make a point of it!

Montessori Happenings

2010-05-14T21:00:00.005-06:00

I meant to write yesterday while everything was fresh on my mind. I think I'm going to forget some of it all!

While my younger niece was down for her nap yesterday, I brought upstairs the cursive Sandpaper Letters, and maybe something else, can't remember. In any case, the 5yo was eager to do the letters. So I picked a couple, she has forgotten how to do "a" :(, but she kept saying words that went with the sounds of the letters, so I went straight to some simple syllables. She decided to go for words. :D

We did "man", first, then something else, then she went straight for "cheval" (horse), because that's her absolute passion. She remembered that 'ch' is /sh/ in French (and I am now thinking I really need at least some large cursive green cards with some of the basic French combination sounds, even if I can't get them made out of sandpaper right away) and did the rest on her own.

Then she wanted to make "achale" (bug, as in, to bug somebody lol), and I told her I only had one 'a', but I might be able to find some other letters for her to make "achale". I managed to find my large cursive movable alphabet letters, all mixed together because I'd never managed to figure out how to make a container for them. I laid them out on the floor, rearranging them as we went along to a layout that was potentially more helpful, and she made a bunch of words that you will see in the pictures. (Pictures now below! I thought she'd done more words than that, but I guess it was just that she picked words that were so complicated for this as a beginning, that it seemed like she had done more!)

Ah, yes, cobra was her second word. I had just read to her a book on snakes and one of

the snakes was a cobra. Interesting how she went for the 'k' for the /k/ rather than

the 'c'! 'Achale' is missing an e, but it's not clearly said, so I can understand

why she built it the way she did.

This is her version of "plafond" ("ceiling"). We don't pronounce the

'd', so of course it's not there! She did have to ask

how to make the 'on' sound.

"Plateforme" was her next word (with her phonetic spelling, which turns out to be

the English spelling), which she built off of "plafon". She was figuring out

the sounds and saw that she could just take the pla from her "plafon",

then as she worked through the word, she ended up using all of the

letters from her "plafon" except the n, which is why it's still there. lol.

For now, I've got the letters stored in some larger envelopes than just normal envelopes, grouped according to size (short, tall, with "tail") and the letters written on the upper right-hand corner of each envelope. 'F' was not given an envelope--it doesn't fit with the other categories, so I left it out. They are all in a basket.

In any case, there was more that happened after that. Seems to me she did some math, not sure what else. I had the thought that if I could have more Montessori time with her like that, maybe she would turn to the activities more while her sister was awake. And then, just to shoot my tendency to expect immediate change down, the littlest one woke up, came downstairs, and the two were back to their crazy play.

Which brings me to a realization I had today: These two have hit a point where they are not able to interact with each other unless it's through some sort of play. It's kind of sad. They used to do things together or side-by-side, but not anymore. They're either making each other laugh or are just being plain goofy and loud. I actually put a halt to some of it this afternoon, told them they could read or draw or paint together. They continued with the goofiness. I was clearer and said that it had to stop, and they could read, draw or paint together. Eventually, the message became clear and they each found different things to do, but they never did come together again. They are perfectly fine and calm doing the same activities with other people, but together, they get crazy. And it can be either girl instigating it! Definitely something I need to work on. But not now: Ghost Whisperer is starting! ;D

Facilitator meeting done!

2010-05-12T17:36:00.000-06:00

To homeschool in Alberta (for all of my non-Albertan readers), a family has to meet a couple of times per year with a teacher from a supervising school board. Nothing fancy, just write down a few things the kids have done, maybe look at some work samples.

I've always had my meetings rather late in the year--end of May or beginning of June. We had ours today, though, and I am REALLY liking how early it is. Why? Well, if it takes place at the end of May or later, then the kids flip into, "We're done!" mode. But, it's only mid-May. We are NOT done. (evil grin)

But that has me thinking about what to do for the next while. I may veer slightly towards a bit more structure and requirements, just to get my 2 working a bit more. Bob has to finish up his course work and study; he'll be done his exams 2nd week of June. That's when we'll be done, I think. After that, it's field trips and outings and baking and cleaning up and stuff like that. So, I still have a few more weeks to keep the others busy with things.

For ds, I think I'm going to go a little more Charlotte Mason for the next while: daily copywork, daily math, daily French spelling/grammar book, daily German; other than that, he can choose from science, geography, art, music, reading... I'll give him a daily form so he can write down what he's done, including whatever reading he does.

I'll take the same idea for dd, but without the daily copywork, and with an additional requirement to write a paragraph (or more) in French each day. For math, I think I'll give her the option to do the math stuff in Life of Fred (she's already read both books, just not actually done any of the math) or to do a worksheet that I'd prepare for her. I've also purchased the Montessori R&D chem and physics manuals, and since she's been working on chemistry, I could start showing some of that to her. So far, she's looked at the first 10 elements of the periodic table--which I should actually be finding ways for her to memorize as she wants to memorize them but needs to use them in some way--and we've talked a bit about what the atomic numbers mean. I know there will be plenty of activities in the manual and she may even come up with some of her own ideas once she gets going.

For my 5yo niece... I realized today I don't think I've ever presented the Golden Beads to her. If I did, it was very long ago and I never followed through. That's something I could work on with her. Her understanding of numerals from 0-12 is very good; I could also introduce her to the Teens Board. And, she has never had the opportunity to make a world map placemat using the puzzle map, so I could also present the Continent Puzzle Map and get her to the point of being able to make a placement.

For 2.5yo niece... I think I really need to start introducing everything I can from Gettman's first period and seeing it where it takes us. Both girls seem to have fallen into ridiculous play and have little attraction to former activities. I haven't really shown them anything new for sometime. I'll have to go through some lists of typical activities, start practising them and get myself ready to show them!

--

Naturally, now that this year is almost done, my mind is already moving ahead to next year. I want to sit down and plan out everybody's year, even though I so often don't follow my plans. *sigh* Maybe it means I need to plan differently.

Life of Fred

2010-05-11T21:18:00.000-06:00

Oh my goodness, if you have an upper elementary or older child who has done significant work with basic addition and multiplication facts (ideally, has them mastered, or is close to mastery), I have to recommend Life of Fred. (The first book says addition and multiplication; the website says long division as well. Hm...) We picked up the first two books of the series today after having had the title show up repeatedly recently: I had 2 different people tell me about them, had read about them not too long earlier, and then after I asked a friend if she sold them, more people asked about them (without them knowing I had asked her)! My life is just like that. lol. Although, now I have to wonder if that means I need a lot of hints before I get moving on something. ;)

In any case, Life of Fred is the story of a 5.5yo boy who has different issues over the course of his day and how he incorporates math to help him solvehttp://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html his problems. There are some opportunities to practise what is being taught in the lesson, as well as a recap every so often. You might be thinking, "So what?" Well, they are HILARIOUS! Dd has already read half of the first book and plans on going back later to actually do the math.

This is Fred (my apologies to Stan Schmidt if this is not acceptable, but consider it free advertising! :D):

You can find out more about Fred here: http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/21Fredstory.html

And some sample pages here: http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/31samplepages.html

Tired Toddlers

2010-05-11T11:34:00.002-06:00

Lately, I've been finding the two youngest girls (5yo and 2.5yo nieces) are just kind of crazy. lol. Whereas for a good long while, they would contentedly read books or draw or colour or play with Playdough or even play with Barbies, or the older would do some math or practise the sandpaper letters or something, they have moved into laugh-noise-laugh-noise-laugh-noise mode. It's like they have a contest to see how long and how loudly they can do silly things and laugh.

I'd been a bit under the weather last week and not able to realize that I have to start directing them a bit since they are no longer on automatic pilot. ;)

This morning, they showed up, and it started right away. The 2.5yo was the primary instigator. My thoughts were, "What am I going to do about this?????" I did a very un-Montessori thing. After she had decided to make even more noise after the two were asked to be quieter with the Barbies, I was going to put the Barbies away. I came down, saw that while the older was laughing, she was actually doing something with the Barbies and simply laughing at her sister. The 2.5yo was putting a Barbie tree base (or something) in her mouth and making noise. I told her she was all done, picked her up and walked with her upstairs while I figured out what to do. Then she yawned. It was about 9am and she was yawning--it hit me that her chaotic behaviour was the result of her being tired and adrenaline kicking in.

I ended up--here comes the un-Montessori part--getting out the high chair and placing her in it. To make up for that, I then picked three different activities for her to choose from--pouring beans, a Discovery Toys mosaic pegs activity and a cylinder block. She went through each one, and I then offered her paper and crayons. She drew some very cute things she wants to give to her mom. She said she was done--and by this time, her older sister had found some productive, quiet things to do--so I brought her Playdough. She made some things, only lasted about 5 minutes with the Playdough, then put it all back in the container and said she was done and she wanted out. The 5yo was so sufficiently absorbed in what she was doing, I knew it wouldn't cause any problems to let her roam free. Ha! Silly me!

She tried to get her older sister's attention, but it didn't pan out. I could see how tired she was, but unconvinced that she would fall asleep so early in the morning. She eventually decided to go play Barbies again, but it was just too much for her tired self to handle and she started crying when she saw her sister had put them all back in the bin (because, remember, I had pulled her away while she had been playing with them--they "ought to" have still been there). I went to her and asked her what she wanted, she stopped crying but didn't say anything. I said that her sister had put everything back in the bin, but it was okay, she (2yo) could take out what she wanted. I left her contemplating that, but it was a no go. Next thing I know, she's yelling her fussing. I finally look down--she's complaining about her sock, half in tears. I told her it was okay and she left it alone. Next thing I know, she's having a fit in the stairs because people are walking down it while she's trying to go up. It was only 10am by this point, but I saw that something had to be done about her tiredness! So, off to bed I brought her. It took her longer than usual to fall asleep, but she did fall asleep and is still sleeping now (an hour later). I expect she'll sleep at least another 30 minutes, possibly even another hour.

What's my point with all of this? Just that sometimes the annoying behaviours that come out of our kids, especially the loud, obnoxious, or teary behaviour of our toddlers, come not from boredom or lack of discipline or lack of guidance, but out of sheer adrenaline trying to keep them going. Which is why it's always important to, as much as possible, ask yourself why a child is behaving the way s/he is: the cause completely affects what to actually do about the behaviour.

Never too young to start algebra!

2010-05-05T12:04:00.000-06:00

Especially when you have materials! :)

I have these simple algebra tiles. Don't know what the company is who made them. In any case, I had pulled them out to show something to "Bob". They were still on the table while eating lunch, and just to see, I pulled out a bar representing x and told my 5yo niece that it was x, even though it doesn't look like x, we call it x. Then I took out one of the little red squares and told her it was plus 1. I put it next to the x and told her that we now have x + 1. I took a bite to eat and she asked to do more!

I grabbed another red square and told her now we had x + 2. Then I added another one, and she knew it was x + 3. We did more squares, added more x's and even started taking away x's and squares. She LOVES it!

I'm going to miss her when she goes off to public school full-day kindergarten in the fall. She'll be coming to me after school, so maybe we'll be able to still do these kinds of things. She's so capable and it's such a joy to see her delight in doing these kinds of things.

More Montessori for early adolescents

2010-05-02T07:13:00.000-06:00

Still in search mode! Here are some more links. I should probably find a way to collect them all together somewhere:

Great River School: http://www.greatriverschool.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2 and http://www.greatriverschool.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=12

Ottawa Montessori School: http://www.ottawamontessori.com/english/juniorhigh.php

Milwaukee Montessori School Junior High Blog--this one's particularly nice because you get to see pictures of what the kids are doing and I think all or most of the entries are by the students themselves: http://blogs.milwaukee-montessori.org/jh/ **There are other blogs for other levels; just check out the links on the right of the jr. high blog!

Milwaukee Montessori School page: http://www.milwaukee-montessori.org/OurPrograms/JuniorHigh.htm

Tall Pines School--the Montessori Guiding Principles and Adolescence starting in the middle of the page are particularly interesting: http://www.tallpinesschool.com/tallpinesschool/myweb.php?hls=1000093

Roots and Wings: http://www.rootsandwingsbc.com/programs-mainmenu-73/secondary-mainmenu-105

Something from Montessori.org: http://www.montessori.org/sitefiles/montessori_way_HS.pdf

Some links focusing specifically on the idea of the Erdkinder:
http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/Erdkinder-_ep_74-1.html
http://www.erdkinderplan.de/ (If you understand German. :) )

Still thinking argh

2010-04-30T13:33:00.001-06:00

I decided to look up SATs, just as a comparison, since the Alberta Diploma Exams are kind of like the SAT subject exams.

I learned that the SAT results give the student a raw score, but also tell the student where they fall percentile-wise for the time that test was taken. That makes sense to me. And maybe this is the basic premise that the Alberta Government is working off of--the percentile results per question on the diploma examinations.

Here's the problem: SATs don't make up 50% of the students' grade 12 final marks for ELA, Social Studies, Math, and all of the sciences (bio, chem, physics and the general science course) as Alberta diploma exam marks. SATs have nothing whatsoever to do with the students' marks--or getting a diploma. Students in Alberta can not get a high school diploma without doing at least some diploma exams.

Just another point against ever having my children as a part of the AB credit system--unless they choose it!

Argh

2010-04-30T09:00:00.000-06:00

Not sure what I'm madder about: what the government is doing or some of the people's comments.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/columnists/andrew_hanon/2010/04/26/13731201.html

Some people are saying, essentially, Suck it up, Buttercup!, defending the government with things like, "They'd better get used to it since that's how it is in university" and "If students have a harder exam one year, it's not fair if equating's not done." (Those are not direct quotes, just essentially what has been said. :) )

Here's my problem with the first argument I've listed above:

Yes, that's how it is in university. Problem is: We're not talking about university. We're talking about high school. Where it is generally accepted that this type of grading does NOT take place. That the mark you get is what you get. Not only that, but we're talking about an exam that is worth half of the final mark. It's a big deal to have your mark dropped.

Why is there such a negative attitude towards people complaining about this? "Well, life is unjust elsewhere, so instead of being unhappy about this unfair practice, get used to it." Well, that's just a little like saying, "Roll over and die," isn't it? I guess it's part of the group mentality of "you just have to accept things and don't make a fuss". We ought to get used to it instead of trying to change it. Is this thinking the result of mass schooling or is it promoted in the media or what? We did not make huge beneficial changes in our society due to people just accepting things and not making a fuss. With this kind of attitude, the suffragettes were in the wrong, Martin Luther King Jr. was in the wrong. If we had let things just happen and got mad at people for not getting used to it instead of getting mad at the injustice, there would still be slavery in the US, and women would not be able to vote or become doctors, those opposing the Nazis were in the wrong because they just wouldn't "get used to it" and so much more. ARGH.

To the second argument, here's the problem:

How do you know if an exam is actually harder or easier one year compared to the previous year?

Hint: YOU CAN'T.

Why not? Because each year of students brings different students, different teaching, different preparation.

Let's say one year, the average is 66%, and nobody has done any exam prep courses. The next year, the exam is technically "harder" because the government wants the average lower (yes, the government does actually seek to control the averages). Students hear about it and 90% of them go through excellent exam prep courses, work hard, etc. The average that year is 70%. Do results actually show whether the exam was harder or easier? Some might say, oh, that wouldn't happen. But you know what? I've seen the differences in groups from one year to the next. Teachers who do pretty much the same thing, make no radical changes to their exams, and one year, the marks are much lower. Has nothing to do with the work or the tests being harder, just the mentality present that year.

Here's another problem: With the Provincial Achievement Tests, which are EXACTLY the same thing as the Diploma Examinations, just for younger grades, the government takes the results and blames teachers if the results aren't high enough. If marks go up, then they decide to make things harder because teachers are teaching better and the students are now capable of more. However, they go through the exact same process for the Diploma Examination and if the results are "too high", then they blame the exam for being too easy.

Anybody else see the inconsistency?

Some links for Montessori in adolescence

2010-04-26T21:15:00.000-06:00

I figured I might as well post my finds instead of just storing them in my bookmarks!

GVS http://www.greenvalleyschool.com/jhtour.php
Santa Cruz Montessori http://www.scms.org/jrhigh.html
Clark Montessori http://clark.cps-k12.org/academics-jrhighcurric.html
From NAMTA http://www.montessori-namta.org/namta/geninfo/devcont5.html
Hershey Montessori http://www.hersheymontessori.pvt.k12.oh.us/why_hershey/Adolescent%20Program.htm
Canadian Montessori Academy http://www.montessori-academy.com/Montessori/Programmes/MiddleSchool/Default.aspx - I think the idea of the student providing their own monthly progress report is kind of neat!
MMSK http://www.cmsmontessori.org/mmsk-montessori-middle-school-of-kentucky.aspx
Arbor Montessori http://www.arbormontessori.org/middle_school_program.shtml

All right, I'm going to have to stop myself. I could keep going and going!

Sometimes more direction is needed

2010-04-26T20:23:00.002-06:00

We got started this morning and I asked my son if he could look up online how to take care of these worms properly so they don't die. He eagerly says sure. He loves looking stuff up online.

After about 20 minutes, I ask him what he's found out. He starts telling me stuff about worms themselves, and I get him back to what has he found out about how to take care of them. Nothing. Oh. "What have you been looking at?" This, that and the other, but not how to actually take care of them. Interests run amok. And nothing written down. lol.

For tomorrow, I will print off a sheet that is a little more specific and whoever wants to tackle how to keep these worms alive can look it up and write information down. Ds might decide to do it--especially since it means being on the computer again (lol), but maybe not.

I did find out from Bob that he had a 2nd small container with a couple of worms on purpose. "But it's so small. I'm not sure they'll do okay." His response: It's okay. They're Exhibit A. LOL.

Dd decided to start tackling learning the first 10 elements of the periodic table. She chose to do a table, but wasn't sure what to look up since I don't really have a proper French resource here for chemistry, so I told her to look up "table périodique". She found a good French site with the periodic table, and put in her table the atomic number, symbol and name, but also what type of element it is! Very cool. :) This reminds me that I had looked at Montessori Research and Development's chemistry album listing online and am pretty sure I want it. I should order it ASAP. And maybe guide dd to their materials section where she might get be tempted to do some of the same as part of her work.

This reminds me: I went to Austin Montessori's website the other day to look at their information on their Adolescent Community. There has been a change with dd this year and I really think I need to learn more, immerse my brain as much as possible, in what Montessori schools out there are doing so I can find something, or try different things, to find a good match for her. She definitely wants to learn, wants to progress, and while I've had difficulty figuring out how to meet her desires and needs the past couple of years, there's a greater motivation, a greater confidence that's allowing her to venture into new areas, and I want to at least try to make the most of it.

I've totally gone off track. Back to what I was saying. I went to Austin Montessori's website and had a look at their Adolescent Community information. Something interesting stuck out at me:

We use an integrated project approach in order to engage students in the pursuit of ideas and expertise, encouraging them to become better thinkers, problem-solvers, and responsible and informed citizens.

This is an area, the idea of an integrated project approach, that I would like to explore more. Something else struck me:

One way we cultivate this community is by preparing rituals and routines which allow the adolescents to operate relatively independently in the prepared environment.

She has been, without my requesting, taking initiative to do more herself, be more independent. I recall my own adolescence where I *loved* days on my own where I could be completely independent and responsible. There is probably a lot I have not shown her over the years that would be super important to show her now, to provide these rituals and routines so she can feel the strength of independence. Not force her to be independent, but work step-by-step at establishing some more routines around here that would allow her to develop the ability to be independent. I feel like I'm repeating myself. Ah well.

Worms, worms, worms!

2010-04-25T19:07:00.001-06:00

I was so enamoured with my 2yo niece on Friday, I forgot to share what else we have going on!

Worm farms!

I made some comment about the suicidal worms on the driveway after the rain and that spurred the older kids into rescue mode. This led to asking if we had dirt; yes, I had some potting soil. Did I have containers they could use? Yes, I did. What do they eat? You'll have to look online.

Now we have 4 containers with worms in them. Bob has two, for some reason. I just realized I threw out a bunch of watermelon rinds today that we could have used as worm food. Dang.

They have 3 of the containers covered with brown paper because I had read that they need to be covered or kept in a dark place. We'll see how long they keep these guys alive. I think dd and ds will be responsible this week for learning more about how to keep them alive. Bob has only 6 weeks to finish all of his correspondence work AND study--he's got to get cracking!

You can see the worm along the side! If there's too much light when we pull up the paper, they dart out from wherever they are to a darker spot.

Oh my goodness, what a character!

2010-04-23T17:39:00.001-06:00

The last hilarious laugh of the day with the same niece:

She was at the table drawing, trying to use a stencil. (She fails miserably, but always thinks she's done great. It's very cute.) For some reason, she stopped and yelled at it:

What are you doing?

(then louder)

What are you doing? You animal! Enough of this!

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More from my 29mo niece

2010-04-23T13:25:00.000-06:00

I read a book today for me.

I need my dog.

One day my dad is home. When my dad is home. (turn page) When my dad is home. (Turn page.) When my dad is home with me. (Ad nauseum.)

(Almost shouting:) When my dad is home for me.

Indeed I love my dad. (Turn page.) I love my mom. (Turn page.) I love my mom.

One day I left... (voice trailed off and she turned the page)

One day my mommy... And my mommy... And my mommy

Can't say that story. (And walked off! lol)

---

It's a shame her big sister isn't having such a positive creative day. It's been a day of grumpiness toward the older kids, accusations of people hitting her tent (when nobody was near the tent--yes, I did witness the event and it was that one thing that one person moved caused a foamy chair to move against the end of the tent), and just general attitude of thinking the worst of the older kids. Not sure what might have triggered that, or maybe nothing really did, other than a general grumpiness and irritability present in the house (seems to go along with the weather).

----

Now the 29mo is using a wooden hammering toy and chanting:

Bubble gum. Bubble gum. (Shoot, she said something else, but I didn't get it down.)

Sunny like a gummy bear. (while hammering)
Sunny like a gummy bear.

Yesterday, she was singing a little song about her soup eating her animal crackers. LOL

Story Telling

2010-04-23T13:14:00.000-06:00

My 29mo niece has spent the past 30-45 minutes "reading" aloud. She takes whatever book she finds and makes up a story as she goes through. She is frankly amazing. I don't think I've known any of the other kids to tell stories of the level of sophistication I'm hearing at the same age!

Here are some of the things I've managed to write down:

"And then the baby spider said..."

"A coccinelle is going in the driveway. The ladybug says, 'Oh, there's a spider in the driveway.'"

"I need the master!"

"There's lots of place there in the potty."

"One day, the girl said, 'My blanket!'"

"Oh Papa..."

Something about a Mommy saying, "And she's BEAUTIFUL my bug!"

There's too much other noise and distraction around here and I can't write things down fast enough. She's, unfortunately, upstairs and the computer is downstairs. I'd love to type up what she says. lol

Dd's first oil painting

2010-04-23T08:15:00.001-06:00

Not bad, eh? Especially since the wind flung it up and it whacked her in the face while trying to get into the van. She had blue and green paint on her face, poor kid, but it didn't do too much damage to the painting itself.

Just some Thursday night babbling

2010-04-22T21:24:00.001-06:00

Been thinking about how to make the most of the time we have left before summer. Bob has got his correspondence work to get done and exams to study for--exams have to be done 1st, maybe 2nd, week of June. After that, I hate to think things will just fall apart into "I don't have to work now that my school work is done."

Since dd has been feeling like she hasn't really been working, I'm thinking of how I might work with her to plan out her time or plan lessons or something. I've been thinking I need to re-read Donna Bryant Goertz's book and maybe the section on the elementary class observations from Montessori Today. Dd would probably be more likely the 12-15 level, but there is just so little information out there. I feel stuck on how to progress with her. If I can at least flesh out some potential goals, that might at least get the ball moving.

All right, so what are some potential goals, or work areas?

FRENCH
-grammar: verb conjugations, adjectives (and their "accords"), plurals... Actually, I've got a workbook for this that she's started using. I'd like to do more *with* her. She enjoys it more, I know.

-reading: this hasn't been bad, actually, since she's been reading to her cousins a bit in French, plus she reads the science magazine we get; if I could find a website with articles or something, that might be better than trying to find a reasonable book, although if we could actually have some sort of a novel study, that would be fantastic

-writing: been thinking about having her start keeping a journal on what she's done over the course of the day, or maybe have her do it at lunch, so she'd just write what she's done for the morning; I'd also like to show her how to do articles or mini-essays; just getting her to write is the ideal way to then tackle grammar and spelling and all that

GERMAN
-this has been woefully neglected, but both she and her brother LOVE it when I just start using German with them; how to make sure it happens? Not sure. And at the moment, I feel my energy and ability to think fading rapidly. Maybe just a REMINDERS sheet for me so that I plan something every day, even if it's just one new word or phrase.

SCIENCE
-actually, this is taken care of, just have to make sure to do it; again, a reminder sheet would come in handy

SOCIAL STUDIES
-um, hm... basically 2 months left. Maybe if I just start researching countries or history or a culture or something, that will get some things moving. I don't think Maria Montessori ever envisioned a student her age actually doing formal social studies--they would have learned about geography through working on the farm and business interactions, economics through the same... She's actually thought about how she might be able to start making some money of her own. Maybe it's something to encourage a little more, get her researching ideas.

MATH
-She said today that it's ironic that her Dad is a math teacher but it's the one subject she doesn't like. And that she wondered why she didn't like it. I told her it was because we were so inconsistent and she wasn't confident because the basic skills weren't there. Thinking about it now, I also think I don't present enough of a lesson for her--I jump into work too quickly when she just needs a little time to process first. So, I'd be very satisfied to just work on times tables and division tables (division, and therefore fractions, seems to worry her the most) for the next couple of months. It'd be good to add in some geometry or something.

ART
-She participated in an oil painting workshop the other day and the instructor was so fantastic, those kids (almost all grades 7-12) came out pleased as punch with their work. She now wants to do more. This, of course, opens up all kinds of possibilities for study since she can read up on things, try things, etc. I need to know if there's something OTHER than just canvas she can use because that is going to get EXPENSIVE! She could also study some famous oil paintings and painters, maybe try to imitate, etc.

MUSIC
-She has been wanting to do guitar. Her brother has been wanting to do guitar. How come we haven't been doing it? I don't know.

All right, my brain is fading away. Enough babbling for tonight. I do need to put that checklist together of things to work on so I see it in the morning and can at least try to plan some sort of lessons or activities!

I'm a very harried mother?

2010-04-22T07:12:00.001-06:00

LOL

http://www.onlinedegree.net/50-must-read-montessori-blogs/

I'm #45. :D

Interesting to see how others interpret what I write. I don't feel harried. Have had moments of stress and definitely busy, but not harried. Even decided to look up the word. Synonyms: Disturbed, distressed, agitated, tormented, pestered...

Is that really how I come across??? lol

The Weather

2010-04-22T05:49:00.002-06:00

This beautiful weather is making it harder to actually do some schooling around here! It feels too much like the beginning of June, when we start doing crafts and spending lots of time outside. The 15yo still has work he has to get done, and exams to prepare for, my 12yo complained yesterday of feeling like she hasn't really done any work since Christmas (which isn't true, but it still feels like it to her).

I'm somehow going to have to battle against nice weather, unfortunately, to keep things together around here!

What has been going on instead? Well, the 15yo is getting work done, but that's mainly because he's doing a novel study right now and for that, I'm reading the book aloud so we can all enjoy it--and to make sure it gets done. ;) It's actually a very good book: Dare, by Marilyn Halvorson. We're nearly done--but it was supposed to have been finished 2 weeks ago. Eek. Gotta get crackin' a bit. My 12yo has been doing a lot of crafty stuff--most recent has been a latch hook kit. She got it last weekend and is already done. lol. Before that, it was some other craft. My 9yo has been outside, playing and reading. Although I am managing to get him to do some math sometimes and some handwriting sometimes.

It's tough to start up some good work routines when I--and the kids--would rather just be in summer mode! If some rain could come, that'd help. ;)

Another week just about done!

2010-04-16T06:56:00.000-06:00

It's kind of funny: Last week was a "short" week due to Easter Monday, but it felt like 2 weeks long. This week has gone by so quickly, it's just one big blur in my mind!

My 5yo niece seems to have started a late-afternoon "school time". I found a few things for her that I put in a magazine holder (some old math workbooks my kids barely used, one of those little notebooks with the dotted middle line for beginning writers, etc.) and she has at least a couple of times this week pulled things out and done things. Yesterday, she did a few subtraction questions, then moved onto her little notebook. Wrote all kinds of things, then came up to me to show her cursive u!

Things are going a bit better with the 2yo, although she's at that emotional stage where the slightest thing creates heartbreak. :( The kids are learning to not yank things back from her, which seemed to have kind of thrown her off at first, but it's getting better and better. I'm being consistent at removing her from certain situations and she seems to be learning that she won't get to stay where she wants to be if she keeps hassling others.

The 15yo is slowly getting back into work. We're focusing on just his math and LA right now. He's started a novel study that I'm reading aloud to all of them, a book called Dare by an Albertan whose name I can't remember at the moment. (Marilyn something? Maybe?) We are really enjoying that and it's a nice change of pace because they can all do something crafty or whatever they're doing while I read and we discuss. I haven't done a read-aloud in so long, it reminds me that it's an element that's missing from our day.

Dd has been doing mostly Hanjie puzzles all week. Here's an example: http://www.hanjie.co.uk/colour-hanjie.php We have a little book and only have one copy of it, so they've been photocopying so others can do the same. Dd even got dh in on them! lol. Then it spread to ds and eventually to the 15yo, who did his first one yesterday. They are fantastic for working on analytical and logical skills!

I guess school-wise, it's been rather relaxed in a way but that's not necessarily a bad thing. ;) Maybe school hasn't been relaxed as much as I've felt relaxed. ;D

Other than that, working on decluttering and organizing the house! It's actually been a focus for a couple of months now, but I've been doing even better this week. It's nice to see garbage and recycling bags fill up and get some order to certain perpetually disordered areas. Like ds's room. :D

Puzzling

2010-04-10T21:14:00.001-06:00

Puzzles were the focus this past week. It started with dd being eager to finish a puzzle she'd started sometime ago, plus bringing out some easy puzzles for my nieces and bam, it became puzzle week with everyone involved!

My 2yo niece has been quite impressive: With minimal guiding, she was able to put together a 12-piece Caillou puzzle we have, where Caillou and his Mom are baking in the kitchen. (I need to remember to take pictures more often!) Friday, she put together--by herself--a 15-piece Max & Ruby puzzle. It was interesting to watch as she found pieces to put together, made mistakes (and my good little Montessorians didn't interfere, just watched), figured out she'd made a mistake and pulled off pieces to try again. Fascinating stuff to watch! She is VERY MUCH in the "me do" phase, but I didn't expect her to be so determined to do a puzzle herself!

I wonder if the puzzle focus will continue next week, or if next week will bring something new!

The Terrible 2s Have Hit

2010-04-07T20:58:00.000-06:00

Wow. Man oh man. My 2yo niece has hit the terrible 2s full force. We're talking several meltdowns/tantrums PLUS hitting PLUS taking things from others--and that was just in the morning!

I tried to mentally step back from it all today and figure out what she needs from these experiences and how we can lessen her frustration. For one, I realized that when she steals something from others, they rip it back out of her hands. So, I addressed that with my son and 5yo niece, explaining that she doesn't understand, she just sees that they are taking things from her, so she's going to keep doing the same. We talked about how it was important to ask for it back and ask for my help if they weren't getting anywhere. Reasoning doesn't always work with a 2yo. (I had the sudden thought that I wonder if this is like Cesar Millan with his dog whispering: he is so patient, that for some problems, he's still waiting many minutes later. We can be so impatient and want our things back NOW, but it might be better for her if we could learn to patiently wait it out, with it clear that we aren't backing down, but aren't forcing her by ripping things out of her hands, either.) I'm sure this is going to have to be addressed frequently.

Other than that, I'm sure I'm not doing things the Montessori way, but one thing seems to already be helping: counter sitting. :D What is this? Well, if things are going poorly and she won't be redirected to something else--or I can feel I'm losing patience and don't want to take the potentially long time to get her redirected--I pick her up, bring her with me to the kitchen, plop her on the counter and work on cleaning. There's always something to clean in the kitchen. lol. I know Maria Montessori, with slightly older children, would kind of isolate them, and then treat them like they were sick, but this toddler's an interesting little character. I could see her acting up just so she could be treated like she was sick. lol. In any case, she ended up on the counter 3 times today, and the 3rd time, she calmed down quickly and said quietly, "Veux descendre, tante D." (Want down, Auntie D.) She proceeded downstairs, informed her sister she was not going to touch her things, she was just going to look, and things went very smoothly after that.

One more incident where she was trying to take things, or see things (couldn't figure it out), but the way my 5yo niece was behaving with the items, she was just making things worse--and not even playing with the items, just being possessive of them. I told her they were too problematic and she'd have to give them to me; she gave them, I took them and walked away. My 2yo niece piped down right away and there were no further problems.

Another trick that's working a bit: instead of plopping her somewhere with some things to do that she'd like or treating her like she's sick, I just pick her up and carry her around and talk with her. It might not fill whatever need or desire she had that was causing a problem, but it fills another need and helps her forget the first problematic one. ;)

So, the terrible 2s have hit, but remembering to step back and see what's what is definitely helping!

School's Back In Tomorrow!

2010-04-05T17:16:00.000-06:00

It's been a weird Spring Break with the Easter weekend tacked onto the end. Everything has felt kind of rushed somehow, although my 4 days of just minding the kids has been good.

For tomorrow, I'm working on structuring things more. Already have some possible schedules worked out for "Bob"; need to get some stuff into place for my 2 and make a Would-Like-to-Present list for 5yo niece. I'm thinking this week of giving my 2 the blank work charts, as I've done in the past, or the "list charts" (for each subject, instead of a blank space to write things in, there is a list of ideas to circle or highlight as they're done) and just really focus on having them think of morning as work time, not play/chat/goof-around time. To get back to a really good flow, I need to include them all into some routines, like clean up and after-lunch silent reading--starting with 15 minutes. I should maybe make a chart and print it off so I don't have to remember this in the morning.

I've been doing fairly well with my journalling and it's really helping me get my thoughts together, as I knew it would. Some things I need to journal about: what will I present, how to fit in artsy and music stuff, how to make sure to give 5yo niece enough presentations.

Oh, supper beckons!

Spring Break

2010-03-31T06:56:00.000-06:00

It's Spring Break! It's been weird for me because, for some reason, I keep thinking it's a day later than it is.

I had originally planned to have things somewhat scheduled, so that there'd be a routine to the day. Plans, as they so often do, changed. :) I had forgotten about ds's dentist appointment Monday morning, but remembered before the appointment, so there was that. Ran some errands while he was at his appointment, then we went to the museum in the afternoon. That took care of Monday.

Yesterday, we made a visit to the John Janzen Nature Centre, which took up part of our day. The idea was to make a walk in the woods to check out nature, but the path was still so full of icy snow that our focus was instead on making sure we didn't slip and fall! The kids, as usual, had fun inside checking out the tiger salamander and the snake and all the other things they have there. Then my 2 and I had our kung fu in the evening.

So, other than those activities, there hasn't been much going on. I've had some Easter colouring pages printed off and there's been, naturally lots of playing. Dd and I have been doing some crochet--she from a book she got at the library with simple ideas for kids; I've been working on Amigurumis. The patterns I have aren't turning out as small as I would like them to be. They're probably not supposed to be as small as I have in my mind that I want, but I want them smaller! :) I'm on my 2nd and think I'd be able to modify them to get them smaller.

Before leaving last night, my 5yo niece was kind of searching for something to do and I pulled out a box of body matching puzzles--2-piece puzzles where you match up the word with the body part. She wanted to do them, so we worked through them together. I had been looking for this little math workbook that I'd found that I thought she might enjoy doing the simple addition and subtraction, but we found the print practice workbook ( :( lol ) and she wanted to do that. I managed to find the math while she was working on c's and I asked if she wanted to keep working with the letters or switch to the math. She decided to switch to the math. Since we haven't done a whole lot of math work yet, I decided to simply use the bead frame (all of the results were 10 or under) because she likes the bead frame and it would be easy for her to use it to do the simple work. It was kind of like the snake game, but on paper, and not going above 10.

She probably ended up working close to an hour yesterday afternoon and was still going strong when her mom showed up. She kept going and I told her she could keep working on it in the morning, because her mom was waiting for her. lol. Her sister already had her shoes and coat on, and there was the 5yo at the table, still working on math (a different page--one where you have to do some math to figure out what colour a portion of the image needs to be coloured).

Naturally, it left me thinking that I don't do nearly enough with her. She is so ready and willing to do more. Of course, she's doing stuff now she won't do again in school until grade 1 (she's heading into kindergarten in the fall), but I'm thinking that since she'll be coming to me after school next year, I may just do some after-schooling with her to keep this kind of thing going. But I'm getting ahead of myself, as usual. For right now, I need to really figure out a plan for our school weeks so that she gets more from me! When I think of just her, the plan is easy. But it's not so easy given there are 4 or 5 others in the house on any given day. 4 or 5 others at completely different levels and doing completely different things. Maria Montessori never wrote about how to have toddlers all the way through high schoolers in one room. ;)

A Plan C

2010-03-26T17:09:00.001-06:00

I forgot to share the Plan C that showed up yesterday: Have your 2yo watch your 5yo use the sandpaper letters, then the 2yo can show the 9yo. Here was what happened:

This week, my 5yo niece made a point of "showing" her 2yo sister how to do some of the sandpaper letters. I'm not sure that the 2yo ever tried to trace them. In any case, their 9yo brother was here yesterday, we were all watching a movie when the 2yo suddenly goes and grabs some of the sandpaper letters. She sits herself down on one of the sofas and I see that she's doing something, then tossing the letter on the ground. I go to pick the tossed ones up and to tell her to put them in a pile next to her when I see that she has her brother's index finger firmly in her hand. Then she is having HIS index finger slide across the sandpaper letters. He didn't say a word, just let her do it. LOL.

Who knew

2010-03-26T08:20:00.000-06:00

that cursive would be such a hot topic? :D

I think it's great that so many people are thinking about bringing cursive into their children's lives. I don't understand those who have gotten judgemental and bashing people for using cursive or not. There is nothing written anywhere that says we are "bad people" for doing one or the other!!

In any case, the most recent questions have been:

How do I make the transition?
How will my child recognise print?

The transition will depend a bit on the age of your child. If they are under 6, I'd strongly encourage you to make a set of cursive sandpaper letters. If they already know some print sandpaper letters, start with 2 or 3 of them and give them 3-period lessons on matching the print with the cursive. Pick VERY distinguishable, easy, letters to begin with. It would not be fair to start with l and e together! I'd say, as part of the lesson, trace the letter yourself before you match it with the print. And I'd also say do not trace the print anymore.

If your children are over 6, some sort of hands-on aspect would be very good, although you could probably do with just matching letter cards. The sandpaper isn't necessary. As for learning the letters, just like a typical Montessori presentation, start with just a few. But because the child is over 6, the sensory aspect isn't usually quite as necessary. What is very helpful is to provide light letters to trace over. Let them do it as long as they want! In school, I remember being rather rushed to transition from tracing, to dotted to just doing the letters within the lines. It was too much too fast and my poor natural lefty self, writing with my right hand, had horrible, horrible handwriting. My handwriting improved dramatically years later when a friend, who had beautiful cursive, wrote out the alphabet for me on a sheet of looseleaf and I instinctively traced and traced and traced, tried on my own, and went back and traced when I wasn't satisfied.

I just recently purchased a program called StartWrite. It lets you make worksheets choosing from a bunch of different fonts--including different cursive fonts, change the size, decide if you want lines--including the middle dotted line, etc. My one complaint is most of the cursive fonts don't have all of the letters starting on the line, and the one that does start on the line is an "icky" font. (That just means I don't like it. lol) I actually take a pencil and draw the leading line.

Another program out there is Schoolhouse Fonts, which has a very nice D'Nealian cursive font that DOES start on the line, but I liked the greater number of options with StartWrite and decided to go with that instead. Of course, there are others, too, depending on what you want: http://www.educationalfontware.com/ and http://www.downhillpublishing.com/fonts4teachers.cfm are a couple of others.

---

As for "How will my child recognise print?"

First of all, print is EVERYWHERE. They see it all the time. They will therefore absorb it.

Secondly, if you know the cursive letters, it is rather easy to pick out the print letters that correspond. The reverse is NOT true--you can not "see" the cursive letter in the print letter.

Third, because of the first and second points, children probably don't need any adult interference in learning to read print. From Maria Montessori's "The Montessori Method":

Seeing these surprising results, I had already thought of testing the children with print, and had suggested that the directress print the word under the written word upon a number of slips. But the children forestalled us! There was in the hall a calendar upon which many of the words were printed in clear type, while others were done in Gothic characters. In their mania for reading the children began to look at this calendar, and, to my inexpressible amazement, read not only the print, but the Gothic script.

So, here she thought she would get them to do something new (up to this point, Maria and the directress had been providing little slips of paper with words in cursive on them for reading practice) and discovered that the children already knew how to read print and Gothic!!! This ease of transition is why you don't ever learn about lessons designed by Maria Montessori herself to teach children how to read print: they've already figured it out once they've mastered the cursive and idea of reading.

If, by some chance, your child is still confused after quite a while, then you simply have to provide specific lessons on letters and maybe words. I think you'll find, though, that you need to give your child much more credit. I think of my son, who reads amazingly well in English, even though he has really only followed along in books I read to him in French. AFTER age 6, I might add. Our children are amazing if we don't spend too much time trying to mould them according to the pre-determined notions that are pervasive in our society.

Another thought on cursive

2010-03-25T08:29:00.000-06:00

The one question that comes up so much is, "What's the point? With everybody using computers today, what's the point of writing in cursive?"

You know, it hit me this morning that this is reminiscent of what our provincial government wanted to do some 10-15 years ago: remove music, art and phys. ed. from the schools. Their reasoning: What's the point? Most of the students were not going to be musicians, artists nor athletes, so why have those courses? The truly talented will learn on their own, be part of teams or take private lessons. Yadda yadda yadda.

"What's the point?" is narrow-minded thinking. It seeks to restrict, instead of to enlarge and grow. It tackles an issue as though there's no point in doing something unless there is an overwhelming reason to do so, especially if it is going to be part of our jobs as adults.

The question forgets that self-mastery and exploration and growth can be the point.

It forgets that joy and fun can be the point.

It forgets that artistry and so much more can be the point.

And so, perhaps the best answer to "What's the point?" is not all of the benefits that I've listed in previous messages, but, "What's your point?" :D

Cursive - Plan B

2010-03-24T20:06:00.000-06:00

"Oh no! I started with print! It's all lost."
"My child started using print on his own. Now what do I do?"
"My child is 10 years old. Is it too late?"

I like to say: It's never too late! :D Anybody who thinks "it's all lost because I started Montessori/cursive/whatever too late" is very likely a perfectionist and might consider doing some soul searching. ;)

If your child has started with print for whatever reason, you may not be able to have them switch to cursive for their day-to-day writing, but that doesn't mean they can't benefit from cursive. Let me share some examples from my own life that might encourage you in your own Plan B.

My daughter started writing letters at age 3, before I knew anything about Montessori. It was too late, obviously, to start with cursive. When I first learned about Montessori a year later, I promptly made sandpaper letters with Elizabeth Hainstock's print template. Again, more print. When I started learning about cursive and how Montessori ought to always have cursive and all of the benefits, I decided that cursive was a non-negotiable item. I made cursive sandpaper letters and word cards and not sure what else, and we played games with them. Over the years, I also made worksheets and dd chose a cursive workbook (A Beka--which, btw, offers cursive starting in Pre-K) and so on. Basically, while I made cursive a requirement, I provided different opportunities to choose from for the practice.

My daughter is now 12 and when she writes, unless she has an aesthetic reason for using cursive, she will write in print. But let me say this:

1) Her cursive is better than her printing. Part of it is that she's more attentive to the cursive since it's not completely second nature. The other part of it is attentiveness because she does want it to look nice when she uses it. She complains that it takes longer than printing, but when brought to the fact it looks nicer, she's satisfied. But has no desire to switch to using it all the time. ;)

2) She can write and read in cursive. Which is good, because I pretty much only write in cursive. She has to be able to read it! (Her grandparents also write in cursive in her birthday cards--another reason to be able to read it!)

3) She may never switch completely to cursive, and that's okay. Yes, my heart would love for her to use cursive as her modus operandi, but she can write in beautiful cursive, can read cursive, does use cursive for certain purposes, so I have nothing I can justifyingly (sure, it's a word) complain about.

How did I do this?

She was under 6 still when I learned about cursive first. It is still a very, very good age to learn cursive. It was quite easy and making games out of learning the letters went a long way. What kinds of games? Matching games with the print sandpaper letters, "hiding" letters in various places and playing I Spy, practising a couple of letters and then writing on my back and seeing if I could figure out what she did (and vice versa--I'd write on her back), things like that. I did not insist that she write what she wanted to in cursive, the way we were forced to in school, so she stayed with what was easier for her.

My son is another example. He's 9 and not much of a writer at all yet. Technically, he's "too old" for cursive to become a permanent switch (up to age 8 seems to work; after that, much harder), but since he has spent very little time printing--his printing looks like someone much younger--I just don't know. Also, while he hasn't used cursive much, he was presented it when much younger and still had some practice with it now and then, so the roots are there, just not enough practice. Actually, I've only ever presented cursive to him; he's done the print on his own. And yes, his cursive is better than his printing! Now that things are settling around here at home, I have already begun doing what I did with my 12yo (and am doing again with my 12yo): providing different means of practising cursive, but making working on it a non-negotiable. Yes, Maria Montessori might be unhappy with me. I'm okay with that. I have, I will add, also printed off things for my own practice and have been just using blank sheets to work on cursive, telling the kids my handwriting has gone downhill (which it has) and I want to improve it. My son seems to think it's neat that I'm doing that and that we can work on cursive together side-by-side. I think it also gives the message that cursive isn't just work for kids!

How about an older example? Bob started with me when he was 9. Had horrible printing. Had never been shown cursive. I think around the time he turned 10, he actually asked about cursive and I started him on it, knowing full well that the chances were that he would never, ever switch. Know what? He learned it fairly well and his printing improved in the short time he was interested in working on it. Hmm... So yes, cursive has benefits for the older child, too! His handwriting has gone downhill a bit and he has decided he definitely wants to work on improving his printing. I told him the best way was to go back to trying cursive again, because his brain would treat it as something "new" and would be more attentive, and the habits learned from the cursive would switch over to his printing. So, today, he started on cursive. :) Would he ever switch to just cursive? Probably not. He's 15 now and only looking now to possibly actually master cursive. But that's not the point. He will be doing something very valuable, requiring attentiveness, attention to detail, which will transfer to his printing, and in the process, he will be learning to read cursive, which is also an important skill.

I have now decided to work concertedly on my 5yo niece with this. Although I only ever really showed her the cursive sandpaper letters, she writes in print. Not sure if that's what she does at home with her parents or what. She can trace most of the letters well and knows almost all of them by sound and name, but can't seem to make the connection yet between following the same movements on paper or on a chalkboard. So, I'm going to start playing some games, like air writing--you trace the letter without actually touching it, then you try to trace it in the air without the letter right there. You start with easy letters, like l and e and n. She has begun reading every so slightly and so, for a pack of alphabet cards I have (image on one side, French word on the back--in print, of course), I wrote up a few cursive cards to match yesterday. Today, she asked if we could do like yesterday, where I wrote the cursive on a card and she could put it on the card. :) We did quite a bit today, 3 cards at a time, and now there are fewer cursive cards to make. lol. (I just used blank business cards, if you're wondering what kind of card I used.)

She will be in the regular school system in the fall, where I'm not sure if they really spend any time on cursive, (and they certainly don't in Kindergarten). Haven't seen any evidence of it in my nephew, who is in grade 4. So, it might fall away for her. But she'll at least have had what little I could give her and I've told her she'll probably be the only one who will already know what cursive letters are and she is so lucky.

Although, since she'll be coming here after school, maybe it won't fall away too much--I'll be the only place offering her the "pretty" letters. ;)

Cursive, part 2

2010-03-23T13:21:00.000-06:00

So, to continue my thoughts on cursive.

John Holt was a big proponent of print only. Part of his reasoning was due to having done a "test" with some boys, where they compared the speed and legibility of printing vs. cursive. He was convinced cursive would win. It didn't pan out. As much as I dearly love so much of what John Holt aimed to teach people, this was one thing I had an issue with from the very beginning: all of those children had learned to print first, as had he. They were far more experienced with it and it being the first way they were taught how to write, it's hard to say how long it would take for cursive to be more natural and swift.

Think about it: If you incorrectly learn how to read notes on sheet music and spend 4 years playing everything incorrectly, then you start learning the correct way, how easily are you going to correctly play the songs you already know by heart? How long will it take you to learn to play it a different way?

Some more evidence for cursive first or only:

More and more of those involved with special education are calling for the use of cursive--and not just with special education students. There are no letter confusions in cursive like with print. 'b' and 'd' are very distinct, as are 'p' and 'q'. Many children without learning difficulties struggle with b and d in particular. They learn it's a stick and a ball, but then can't remember which side of the stick the ball goes on.

Many children with learning disabilities having visual processing and sequencing issues, so print is found to be harder for them. As it should be. Traditional cursive all starts on the bottom and moves on from there, ending so the next letter can be written. Print letters start all over the place, which requires an ability to correctly judge open space and control hand movements to keep the letter the necessary size. And because the letters all start from a different place, there are more sequences to remember. Really, this doesn't just apply to those with LD since a young child learning to write has the same issues! Add to the letter spacing: word spacing. Kids starting writing or who have LD already have an issue with spacing, and word spacing is even more complicated. With cursive, the entire word is linked and the spacing is obvious from one word to the next--you lift the pencil, leave a space and start your new word. Even if the spacing and sizing within a word are inconsistent, the words are obvious. In contrast, with print words, sure, you lift your pencil and leave a space, just like for cursive, but you have to do that with every letter within the word and it's not always so obvious! And many kids don't like the "finger trick" where they put a finger from the other hand down in between writing words.

Why else should our kids be learning cursive early?

Recent research has shown that it activates the brain better, which is interesting since the research shows fewer hand muscles involved and print is clearly less demanding in some ways than cursive. Because it's not so "linear" in style as print, cursive tends to activate both the left and right side of the brain better than print.

There are many historical documents, even things written by hand not less than 20 years ago, written in cursive that a child who can't read cursive will grow up not knowing how to read. Not to mention, despite the common belief that nobody uses cursive nowadays, plenty of people DO use cursive and will be at a severe disadvantage if they find themselves working for someone who writes messages in cursive or has a college prof who writes notes on the board in cursive. "Yes, but that's reading." True, but if they start with cursive, they will already know how to read both cursive and print. Which leads us to necessary questions:

*If learning to write in cursive (first or only) means your child can:
--read print and cursive
--won't have to switch handwriting later on
--means you'll be able to read everyone's writing (well, as long as it's legible ;) )
--prevents certain problems
--benefits the brain
--and is lovely ;) (okay, I just had to add that)

AND
--it's more natural to start with cursive
--your child will still be able to print forms later on (they will have seen so much print and have better developed fine motor skills, so writing in print won't be a big deal)

then why wouldn't you start with cursive? :D

I could go on and on, but I won't. Instead, I will leave you with some links so you can check it out more yourself, if you wish:

http://www.donpotter.net/PDF/Cursive%20First.pdf
http://www.practical-parent.com/home/2010/1/29/cursive-and-brain-science.html
http://www.helium.com/items/1697736-cursive-handwriting
http://www.swrtraining.com/id17.html
http://www.nathhan.com/mcinnis.htm

http://www.peterson-handwriting.com/Publications/PDF_versions/AdvantageCursiveRef.pdf (I think this might be part of one of the other links.)

Yes, Cursive First or Only Cursive--Part 1

2010-03-19T19:19:00.001-06:00

The question of whether to make certain Montessori language materials in print or cursive comes up rather often on the lists I'm on. I may have brought it up here in the past, but it's worthy of being brought up again!

Montessori traditionally formally only presented cursive to the children, starting with the cursive sandpaper letters, then the cursive movable alphabet, and there are photos showing other handmade materials, such as the grammar boxes, being done in cursive. This was a deliberate act on Maria Montessori's part. And with all the modern research backing her up, it ought, imo, be a deliberate act on the part of others!

"But why? We don't need cursive anymore."

To be honest, we didn't need to know how to print in the first place. People wrote only in cursive for a long time. Print was introduced because somebody thought that print would be easier to learn first since it wasn't all curly, and it would make it easier to learn to read.

They were wrong.

Maria Montessori discovered in her early years working with children, before what would be termed the beginning of the Montessori Method, that children naturally write in curls and loops. Anybody who has had toddlers and preschoolers around them has undoubtedly seen the loopy drawings and "writing". It's much easier for the hand to do loops. I have even read that it requires less muscle involvement to do loops than to force your hand to make straight vertical and horizontal lines! Cursive is therefore much more natural for the hand, especially a young child's.

So, with this observation made, she decided in her first actual classroom that the children ought to have a material with which to learn cursive. Unable to have manufactured what she wanted (a grooved wooden piece), she and an assistant decided to use sandpaper, and the first sandpaper letters were made, by hand, and presented to the children. After a while, she and her helper cut out large cursive paper letters so the children could build words with them. They learned to write in beautiful cursive, read in cursive and she discovered that once the reading idea clicked, they could also read the same words in other writing styles, including print. There was *no* issue in learning to read non-cursive.

With this being the case, why oh why are we having children spend K-2 or even K-3 struggling to make nice straight lines in their writing, only to introduce at that point (if introduced at all) to cursive, which would, after 4 years of print, feel unnatural? Why would we have them only deal with print for 4 years, both in reading and writing, and then have to train them to read cursive when they could have started with it and done just fine right from the beginning? Does it make any sense at all?

We complain so much of people's handwriting these days, but what if people had started with cursive, did cursive for 4 years, and then kept using cursive for writing? Wouldn't 7 years of cursive before entering jr. high be more likely to produce nicer writing than 4 years of print and then mix in some cursive for a few years?

I have more to say, but it will have to wait until the next post.